As an EU Member State, Ireland is part of a growing network of EU Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). In April 2025, Commission President von der Leyen announced that the EU had agreed to open negotiations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on a Free Trade Agreement. The European Commission, which leads on trade negotiations, has engaged with the UAE on four rounds of negotiations, with a fifth scheduled for February 2026.
For Ireland, delivering a modern and ambitious FTA with the UAE will not only reinforce EU and Irish relations with the UAE, but also support the important goal of market diversification through an expanded set of EU FTAs.
On Sudan, together with our EU partners, Ireland has been very clear that all external engagement in the conflict needs to end. Ireland has raised the UAE’s engagement in Sudan bilaterally at Ministerial and official level. We will continue to engage on all aspects of the situation in Sudan, with the UAE and with other States in the region.
Ireland has encouraged the UAE, and all others with influence, to advocate for a peaceful resolution to the conflict and an end to the suffering of civilians. At the May 2025 meeting of the EU-Gulf Cooperation Council Political Committee, Ireland, speaking on behalf of the EU, stressed the need to use every influence to prevent external actors from providing arms to combatants and to unite in favour of peace.
Specific allegations of violations of the UN embargo and EU sanctions are pursued through UN and EU channels. Ireland continues to call on all parties to comply fully with their obligations and to refrain from any actions that prolong the conflict and fuel further violence.
The Government has committed to advocating for greater attention on the conflict in Sudan. We have consistently worked to ensure that Sudan remains on the international agenda, notably at the EU Foreign Affairs Council, the UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council. We ensured Sudan was discussed at the November 2025 EU Foreign Affairs Council, underlining the immediate need to protect civilians.
The Government will continue to advocate for increased engagement on Sudan when Ireland assumes the EU Presidency in the second half of this year. We will seek to strengthen EU engagement, with a focus on mediation efforts and on humanitarian assistance, including humanitarian access. In 2025, we provided €14.3 million in humanitarian assistance to support people most in need in Sudan and those displaced in neighbouring countries. We are committed to further increasing our assistance this year.
