Non-oil trade between Lebanon and the UAE reached $4.2 billion in 2025, a figure UAE Minister of Foreign Trade Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi described as among the highest recorded between the two countries in the past 15 years. The number underpinned a day of high-level meetings and agreements in Beirut aimed at expanding that relationship further.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun hosted Al Zeyoudi and a delegation of Emirati business leaders at Baabda Palace, telling them "Lebanon is your second home" and calling the visit "a message of hope and confidence in Lebanon's stability and future."
Five agreements signed in Beirut
The meeting came on the opening day of the Lebanese-Emirati Economic Forum, where five memorandums of understanding were signed. One established the Lebanese-Emirati Joint Business Council. Two others linked the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Beirut and Mount Lebanon with the chambers of Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah, tying together institutions on both sides of the trade relationship.
Elite Agro Holding signed two separate agreements. One, with the American University of Beirut, focuses on food security and agriculture in arid environments. The other, with Lebanese company Jarjoura Dakkache & Sons, centres on greenhouse crops, pointing to agriculture as a growing strand of UAE-Lebanon cooperation alongside trade.
