UAE non-oil exports hit a record AED452.8 billion. Getting known abroad is the harder part

Trade agreements are creating new routes for UAE-based SMEs, but lower tariffs and simpler customs do not automatically make an exporter known to buyers, distributors or business media in another country.

The UAE’s non-oil foreign trade reached AED1.937 trillion in the first half of 2026, rising 13.1% year on year, while non-oil exports increased 23.9% to a record AED452.8 billion, according to figures reviewed by the UAE government in July 2026 and reported by WAM. Exports to countries with fully implemented Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements reached AED66.1 billion in the same period.

The UAE’s CEPA network includes agreements with markets such as India, Indonesia, Türkiye, Serbia, Ukraine, Kenya, Georgia, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo. The agreements lower tariffs and simplify customs, but they do not translate a company’s story into Hindi, Bahasa Indonesia or Turkish, or introduce it to the business editors who influence what local buyers read. An announcement prepared in Dubai in English may explain an expansion to stakeholders at home without reaching the people expected to support it abroad.

Trade access does not create trust

An SME may be operationally ready to export while remaining unfamiliar to prospective customers and distributors. Communication needs to be planned alongside pricing, logistics and market entry, supported by a clear commercial reason and evidence that the business can serve the new market. For example, a Dubai food exporter entering India would have a stronger story if it named its distributor in Mumbai, explained which products would be available and prepared the announcement in Hindi as well as English.

B2Press, an online PR platform that distributes press releases in more than 75 countries and 24 languages, prepares each announcement for the language, media landscape and business expectations of its target market and keeps the central facts consistent across versions. B2Press’s global distribution packages cover several regions in a single campaign.

Each market needs its own proof

Localisation involves more than translating the same release. A Sharjah manufacturer entering Türkiye, for example, could present prices in Turkish lira alongside AED, explain local delivery and after-sales arrangements and include a quotation from the executive responsible for the market. A Dubai fintech expanding into Indonesia would need to make its regulatory approval the principal proof point because customers and business partners will want to know that the service can operate lawfully before considering its other features.

Relevant evidence includes a local partnership, certification, customer project, service capacity or investment commitment. These details turn an expansion claim into a development that editors can assess and potential partners can verify.

“A trade agreement takes an Emirati company to the border. What happens after that depends on whether the local business press, distributors and customers have ever heard of it. In most CEPA markets that conversation happens in Hindi, Indonesian or Turkish, and it is built one milestone at a time,” said Ediz Tokabaş, Managing Partner at B2Press.

The same milestone is also news at home

Overseas progress also matters to audiences in the Emirates. Investors, banks, free zone authorities and commercial partners follow the UAE business press when assessing whether an exporter’s plans are producing tangible results. A distributor agreement in India or a first project in Türkiye shows that an expansion is moving beyond intention. The same development can therefore be communicated in both places, including through B2Press’s Dubai and UAE distribution package at home and locally relevant media in the destination market. 

Being known internationally is rarely the result of one announcement. A company can develop its public record as the business progresses, moving from market entry to its first customer, local recruitment, certification, new capacity and measurable export growth. Each update needs a genuine development, while the choice of markets and publications should follow the company’s commercial priorities.

The UAE’s trade agreements and logistics infrastructure are opening valuable routes for SMEs, but market access addresses only one part of international expansion. Trust develops when a company explains its relevance in the local language, supports its claims with market-specific evidence and continues to communicate real progress both abroad and at home.