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.
A delegation of more than 80 business leaders
More than 80 economic leaders and private-sector figures accompanied the Emirati delegation to Beirut. Their agenda covered investment opportunities across logistics, agriculture, energy, aviation and tourism, sectors that reflect Lebanon's existing strengths and the UAE's appetite for regional diversification.
On the Lebanese side, Economy and Trade Minister Amer Bisat proposed exploring a dedicated economic partnership framework between the two countries. Al Zeyoudi echoed the idea, stressing the importance of beginning work on a comprehensive economic framework agreement between Lebanon and the UAE.
What it signals for UAE-Lebanon ties
For Dubai and Abu Dhabi businesses already active in Lebanon, the forum's outcomes suggest a more structured phase of cooperation is beginning, one built on formal councils, chamber-to-chamber links and sector-specific deals rather than trade flows alone. Whether the proposed framework agreement materialises will likely shape how quickly investment moves from discussion into projects on the ground in logistics, energy, agriculture and tourism.
For now, the $4.2 billion trade figure and the five signed agreements mark the most visible evidence yet of both governments' intent to formalise and expand an economic relationship that has held steady over the past decade and a half.
Reported by Economy Middle East