The United Arab Emirates has committed more than $110 billion in investments across Africa since 2019, with a significant portion targeting renewable energy and logistics infrastructure, according to UAE Minister of State Sheikh Shakboot bin Nahyan.
Sheikh Shakhboot said the UAE’s engagement with Africa builds on long-standing trade and maritime links. The Emirates is expanding its diplomatic and economic presence across the continent through new embassies, trade agreements, and infrastructure projects aimed at supporting Africa’s development priorities and regional integration efforts.
“Between 2019 and 2023, the UAE committed more than $110 billion in investments across Africa – the highest level by any single country during that period,” Sheikh Shakhboot told journalists during the 39th African Union summit in Addis Ababa.
More than $70 billion of this capital has been directed towards energy, green, and renewable sectors, reflecting a long-term assessment that energy access is the foundation of industrialisation and economic diversification, he added.
The UAE is one of Africa’s largest trading partners and investors. Sheikh Shakhboot highlighted nine comprehensive economic partnership agreements with African countries, including Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Angola, and Kenya.
These agreements cover services, digital trade, and investment protection, beyond just tariff reductions.
“When you provide jobs, you provide opportunities. When someone has an income or makes money to go and eat, get food for their family, shelter them, this will prevent them from holding guns and going to fight and joining extremist groups and terrorists such as the ones we see in the far east of Africa or far west,” Sheikh Shakhboot said.
In November, the UAE announced a $1 billion investment to expand AI infrastructure and AI-enabled services across Africa, supporting national development priorities.
Dubai state-owned ports operator DP World is expanding operations across African ports, including a $1 billion upgrade of Dar es Salaam Port in Tanzania, under a 30-year agreement signed in 2023. Last year, AD Ports said it would invest $380 million over 20 years to modernise the Luanda multipurpose terminal in Angola.
Humanitarian Engagement
Sheikh Shakhboot noted that nearly 40% of the UAE’s foreign assistance over the past decade – about $21 billion – has been directed to African countries.
“We are transforming the way we do humanitarian aid. We try to provide technology. We try to provide learning skills. Our aid also covers education and knowledge transfer,” he said.
The UAE will co-host the 2026 UN Water Conference with Senegal in December. The theme of this year’s African Union summit is water sanitation, bringing together heads of state and government from 55 member states. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attended as a guest of honour. The UAE is an observer member of the African Union.