EMIRATI INFLUENCE 

Africa: Maritime investment tightens UAE’s grip on the continent

By Sherif Tarek

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Posted on July 14, 2022 10:21

 © A man stands opposite the modern port at the harbour in Port Sudan at Red Sea State February 24, 2014. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah
A man stands opposite the modern port at the harbour in Port Sudan at Red Sea State February 24, 2014. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is in a prime position to ramp up its influence on the Red Sea corridor and the Horn of Africa, thanks to billions of dollars’ worth of port projects that empower the Emiratis to stave off competition from other regional powers.   

A new Red Sea port that the UAE will co-develop in Sudan is the latest to be unveiled in a series of maritime projects either planned or executed by Emirati companies.

Through such investments in Africa, the UAE – the fourth biggest global investor on the continent behind China, Europe, and the US – stands to serve its geopolitical and security interests.

Market accessibility and security

“On the commercial side, the UAE is improving its ability to access markets across Africa, drawing on its status as a regional logistics and re-exports hub,” Torbjorn Soltvedt, MENA principal analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, tells The Africa Report.

According to the most recent data by the UAE’s Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre, the oil-rich country’s non-oil exports and re-exports to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) stood at $22.2bn and $39.4bn, respectively, in the

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