UAE, first investor in Africa

The UAE companies topped the list of investors in the African continent, pledging projects worth 110 billion dollars between 2019 and 2023, the Financial Times reported.

Most of the investments, or 72 billion dollars, went to renewable energy projects, FT said.

These investments outweighed those announced by UK, France or China.

UAE companies also have investments in agriculture and telecoms. Since 2022, the Dubai royal Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook al-Maktoum has struck deals to sell carbon credits from forests covering a fifth of Zimbabwe, 10% of Liberia, 10% of Zambia and 8% of Tanzania.

In the mining industry, International Resource Holdings, part of a conglomerate controlled by the Abu Dhabi national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, paid $1.1bn to Zambia’s state mining company, ZCCM, for a 51% stake in Mopani Copper Mines.