To foster growth in important industries including logistics, food production, tourism, and energy, the UAE and South Africa intend to increase trade and investment opportunities in these fields.
Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, the UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Trade, stated that his government is ready to form alliances with countries that share its values in order to spur growth, bolster supply chains, and open up new investment avenues.
With 8% of the UAE's overall non-oil commerce with the continent, South Africa is the UAE's second-largest trading partner in Africa. According to Al Zeyoudi, the nation in Sub-Saharan Africa has the potential to play a significant role in the UAE's initiatives to increase non-oil trade with the entire continent.
“Our investment community understands the scale of the opportunity in front of us, and we are ready to work in unison to support new industry sectors, strengthen south-south trade corridors and push our bilateral trade well beyond the $6.5bn we recorded in 2022,” he said.
Meetings with the representatives of each country's private sector were held during the visit by the UAE delegation, which was chaired by Dr. Al Zeyoudi.
To help the Sub-Saharan African country meet its rising demand for electricity, power company AMEA announced a deal with South African energy buyer Green Co and Standard Bank to finance AMEA's key developments.
The UAE delegation included representatives from Masdar, M42, ADNOC Group, DP World, AMEA Power, Infinity Power, and Kanoo Group.