Русский
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has signed a bill ratifying an intergovernmental agreement on services trade and investments between Russia and the UAE.
The intergovernmental agreement was signed in Moscow on August 7, 2025, and is aimed towards the mutual liberalization of access to the services market, allowing service providers from Russia and the UAE to conduct business beyond the obligations taken on by the parties under the corresponding World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement.
The implementation of this will improve access to Russian services and service providers on the UAE market across a greater number of sectors than those covered by the WTO agreement. It will also allow for the creation of new value chains for trade infrastructure and make it possible to set up companies in the UAE using 100% Russian capital in certain services sectors. The agreement will bring about an expansion in bilateral goods trade, which is currently conducted in accordance with a free trade agreement (FTA) signed by the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and its member states and the UAE, while simplifying access to accompanying services—finance, transportation, logistics, consulting, and more. In 2025, bilateral trade in goods reached a historic high of over $12 billion, making the UAE one of Russia’s top 10 trade partners. Trade in services has risen seven-fold over the past 5 years and now exceeds commodity trade.
The agreement will permit Russian companies to hold 100% shares in the capital of UAE companies in sectors such as legal services, computer services, research and development, technical trials and analysis, technical consulting for computer reservation services, ship and aircraft repairs, passenger and freight rail transport, production-related services and management services.
They will be permitted to hold a 70% share in the capital of UAE companies engaged in complex engineering services, medicine and dentistry; rental services for unmanned vessels or other transport equipment; and passenger and marine transportation. In all of the service sectors for which the UAE has taken on specific obligations, excluding finance, telecoms, and travel agent and tour operator services, Russian companies will be able to open their own branches. Russian investors will also be given the right to found companies with 100% Russian capital in certain free trade areas of the UAE, in sectors such as finance, medicine, and news agency services.
As part of the new agreement, the UAE is taking on obligations for 64 subsectors of the services market not covered by its obligations under the WTO agreement, versus 12 additional subsectors for Russia.
UAE companies will be given the right to hold 100% shares in the capital of Russian companies that provide hospital services, repair and maintenance services for marine vessels, catering services for marine transport, rental services for manned vessels, certain air transport services, higher education, and other educational services. UAE companies will be able to open their own branches in sectors including retail trade, hotels and restaurants, and aircraft repairs and maintenance, as well as provide architectural, recruitment, and cinema services without restriction.
