Canada-UAE agreement · Negotiations concluded July 24, 2026 · Updated July 27, 2026
In brief
Canada and the United Arab Emirates concluded negotiations on their Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) on July 24, 2026. For a Canadian exporter, the immediate lever is not that free trade agreement, which still has to be signed and ratified, but the federal CanExport SMEs program: it reimburses up to 50% of eligible costs of entering a new market, from $10,000 to $50,000 per project. The 2026-2027 intake closes on August 31, 2026 at noon Eastern Time.
Application deadline: August 31, 2026 at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
Open since February 4, 2026, awarded competitively on a rolling basis. Funds can run out before the deadline.
90 seconds · No obligation · Confidential
01 · The facts
Three facts that decide whether your export project holds. Every figure links to its official source: check before speaking to us, it is the fastest way to know who you are dealing with.
24.07.2026
Canada and the United Arab Emirates announced the conclusion of negotiations on their Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, launched during the Prime Minister’s visit to Abu Dhabi in November 2025. Signature and ratification are still to come.
Source: Global Affairs Canada$10K to $50K
CanExport SMEs covers up to 50% of eligible costs. The request must fall between $10,000 and $50,000, for a total project value of $20,000 to $100,000.
Source: Applicant’s guide 2026-202731.08.2026
The 2026-2027 intake closes at noon Eastern Time. The program targets a decision within up to 60 business days for markets outside the United States.
Source: Trade Commissioner Service02 · Coverage
Depending on the scope, expert-service fees may be eligible: market research, feasibility, identification of key contacts, B2B facilitation. Eligibility of each expense is determined by the program at assessment. A market counts as new when your sales there are under $100,000, or under 10% of your total sales.
03 · Eligibility
If all three are open, you are eligible to apply. If a single one is closed, we will tell you plainly rather than cost you a month. Above those ceilings? The Large Enterprises track is for you.
At the time of application. Sole proprietorships and limited partnerships are excluded.
Annual revenue declared in Canada, last complete tax year.
Your sales there are under $100,000, or under 10% of your total sales. Up to five markets per project, without mixing the United States and the rest of the world.
04 · The mandate
Four tiers, from the grant application to the full mandate. Each stands on its own, and each is credited against the next.
Phase 0
Free
The application is built around the budget of your market-entry project, which is its main line item. That is why we offer it: with no project to budget, there is no application to write.
You submit it yourself. The program forbids a consultant from applying on a client’s behalf and does not accept application-preparation fees. We prepare, you sign and you submit from your own account.
Tier 1
$2,997
Credited in full against any later mandate. Ten business days. This is how you find out whether the market holds for your product before committing to a full mandate.
A written deliverable, yours whatever happens next. If you engage the mandate, the $2,997 is deducted from it.
Tier 2
$9,997
Four weeks. Credited against the full mandate if you engage it afterwards. This is the product that sells outside grant season, when no program deadline is pushing.
Market research and identification of key contacts are eligible program expenses. One caveat: on its own, at $9,997, it does not reach the $20,000 project floor. It therefore has to be combined with your own eligible lines (mission, translation, intellectual property), or taken outside the grant.
Tier 3
$24,997
If a contribution is granted and the fees are deemed eligible at the 50% rate, it covers up to $12,500 of the mandate. The program reimburses after the fact and advances nothing: plan the cash flow for the full amount.
Invoicing is aligned with the project start date declared in your application, never before. An amount collected outside the approved project period would not be eligible for reimbursement, and we are not going to have you pay half the mandate on the portion that never comes back.
We guarantee no funding decision. The program is competitive: it received close to 4,000 applications in 2025-2026, and roughly 40% of eligible applicants obtained a contribution. What you are buying is a structured market entry. Funding lowers its cost, it is not the reason for it.
05 · After August 31
August 31 closes a funding window, not the market. And for many companies the autumn is in fact the better moment to act.
Applications filed in August receive a decision up to 60 business days later, so around the autumn. Successful companies must then incur their expenses inside their approved project period or they are not reimbursed. September through December is therefore the season when the money exists and has to be spent.
If you miss the intake, two paths stay open. The corridor diagnostic and the market-entry mandate exist without any grant: they sell on their own value, not on a funding window. And the next program cycle is prepared from the autumn, with an application already written rather than one rushed in five weeks.
The Canada-UAE agreement itself still has to be signed and ratified, with tariff reductions following after that. The companies that spend the autumn qualifying contacts will be ahead of those waiting for the announcement.
06 · Large enterprises
Over $100M in revenue · Over 500 employees
CanExport SMEs caps out at $100M in revenue and 500 employees. Your Emirates project does not stop there. For groups beyond the program’s scope, we run a bespoke corporate mandate with no dependency on any grant.
The United Arab Emirates as the entry point, then Saudi Arabia and Qatar. One team coordinates all three markets, on a single execution schedule.
Leadership missions prepared end to end: agenda of qualified meetings, English-French-Arabic interpretation, local business protocol, post-mission follow-up.
Choice of jurisdiction, free zone or mainland, vetted local partners, then full relocation concierge service for your expatriate executives and their families.
Fees on quotation, based on scope. Scoping starts with a 30-minute confidential conversation with your leadership.NDA available before the exchange · Agenda sent in advance
Schedule a confidential scoping session07 · The timeline
For a mandate this size, the method is the proof. Here is the real sequence, from the first call to the first mission.
We check the three gates, the definition of a new market and the project scope. If the file does not hold, you know then.
Market plan, budget by category, activity schedule and strategic rationale. Full review, then you submit from your own account.
The market study and contact qualification can start without waiting for the decision. Note: only expenses incurred within the approved project period are eligible, so we align the start with the date declared in your application.
Service standard for markets outside the United States. If granted, the contribution applies to eligible expenses incurred within the approved project period.
Qualified meetings prepared in advance, on-the-ground support from our sister company in Doha, then structured follow-up of the relationships opened.
08 · The firm
An office in Montreal, a presence in the Gulf through our sister company in Doha. Your meetings in Dubai are not prepared eight time zones away.
English, French, Arabic. Your commercial documents and your meetings happen in your counterpart’s language.
Relocation concierge service and administrative support, including employer services for your expatriate executives. When a mandate turns into a permanent presence, the next step is already in place.
You will speak with our team, from our offices at 3737 Crémazie Boulevard East in Montreal. No call centre, no intermediary representative: the person who answers is the one who will handle your file. 514 510-5401 · info@soshubcanada.com
09 · Objections
It depends on the volume. A market counts as new when your sales there are under $100,000, or under 10% of your total sales. Above that the market no longer qualifies, but other Gulf markets may. We confirm this point on the first call.
Yes. The $2,997 corridor diagnostic gives you regulatory access for your specific product, the local distribution structure, three named competitors or distributors and a twelve-month revenue scenario, in ten business days. It is credited in full if you then engage the mandate. It is how you test the market without committing $25,000 cold. If you want to go further without taking the full mandate, the $9,997 tier adds the sector study and ten qualified contacts, also credited against the mandate.
Invoicing is aligned with the project start date declared in your application, never before. An amount collected outside the approved project period would not be eligible for reimbursement: we are not going to have you pay half the mandate on the portion that never comes back.
The mandate covers a sector study, qualification of 20 contacts on the ground, preparation of a mission to Dubai and continuous local support in the Gulf. That is the real cost of a structured entry, to be weighed against a year lost cold-prospecting from Montreal.
We check the three eligibility criteria, define your target market and tell you plainly whether the file holds. No sales pitch: if the program does not cover you, you will know during the call rather than after a month of preparation.
The service standard is up to 60 business days for markets outside the United States. A file submitted in early August can therefore expect an answer in the autumn, though that timeline is not guaranteed.
You do. The program forbids a consultant from submitting on a client’s behalf, the authorised signatory cannot be a consultant, and application-preparation fees are not eligible. We prepare the complete file, you sign it and submit it from your own account.
CanExport SMEs, yes. Our support, no. The Large Enterprises track covers multi-market Gulf strategy, executive delegations and local establishment, with no dependency on any grant. Scoping happens directly with your leadership, with an NDA available beforehand.
Yes. The information you send is used only to assess your project, is processed by SOS Hub Canada Inc. in Montreal under Quebec’s Law 25. It is never sold or rented, and is disclosed only to our service providers, some of which are located outside Quebec. An NDA can be signed before any detailed discussion.
The market-entry mandate still stands. We adjust the scope to your real budget and carry on. The Emirates do not disappear because a funding envelope ran out.
Yes, up to five international markets. One rule only: a project targeting the United States cannot include any other market, and vice versa.
The agreement still has to be signed and ratified before it takes effect, and tariff reductions follow after that. The market-entry funding, on the other hand, closes on August 31 at noon Eastern Time. You prepare the ground while your competitors wait for the announcement.
Step 1 of 2 · 90 s
