Philippines may tap UAE's $2.4-trillion sovereign wealth fund with CEPA 

The Philippines stands to unlock access to the massive sovereign wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), a senior trade official said in a report by Philippine News Agency.

On the sidelines of the Doing Business in the Philippines forum in Taguig City, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo said once CEPA is signed and entered into force, this trade and investment deal will allow the country to tap the sovereign wealth funds of the UAE which is worth around USD2.39 trillion as of May 2025, according to Global Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF).

The Global SWF also ranked the UAE as the world’s second largest SWF manager, only behind China with a sovereign investment fund of around USD2.77 billion.

“If you look at it, their sovereign wealth funds and private investors have been investing heavily in private equities. The ones that you see abroad, in Western countries, and those are the ones that are investing in the Philippines,” Rodolfo told reporters.

He said the two countries could work on a framework under CEPA to tap UAE’s sovereign investment fund to finance key projects in the country.

“They place a high importance on the CEPA as a way of also unraveling the potential for more investments, particularly from the sovereign wealth funds,” Rodolfo said.

Last week, UAE Ambassador to the Philippines Mohamed Obaid Salem Al Qatam Alzaabi and Philippine Special Envoy to the UAE for Trade and Investments Ma. Anna Kathryna Yu Pimentel said both countries are eyeing to sign CEPA next month.

Once signed, this would be the Philippines’ first free trade agreement (FTA) in the Middle East.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has directed the DTI to diversify trade and investment partners by forging free trade deals with different countries.