UAE and South Africa Strengthen Economic Ties With Focus on Trade, Investment, and Private Sector Collaboration
Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of Foreign Trade, recently met with Mpho Parks Tau, South Africa’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, to explore new avenues for increasing trade, investment, and private-sector collaboration between the two countries.
The talks highlighted the UAE’s commitment to intensifying its economic relationships with both South Africa and the wider African continent, reflecting their growing influence in the global trade landscape.
This high-level meeting followed an earlier roundtable that brought together officials and business leaders from both nations. The roundtable featured Fahad Al Gergawi, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Trade, along with a delegation from South Africa, who discussed further opportunities for cooperation.
Both parties reaffirmed their commitment to enhancing cooperation between their private sectors and building deeper economic relations to achieve mutual prosperity.
During discussions, Dr. Al Zeyoudi drew attention to the significant growth in non-oil trade between the UAE and South Africa, which reached US$8.5 billion in 2024—a 14 percent increase over 2023 and 120 percent higher than in 2019. This robust trend persisted in the first half of 2025, with non-oil trade totaling US$3.93 billion. These achievements place South Africa as the UAE’s second largest trading partner in Africa, contributing 7.6 percent of the UAE’s total non-oil African trade and standing as its 22nd largest globally.
Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi:
“South Africa is a vital partner for the UAE in Africa. My conversations today with Tau underscore the close bonds we share in trade and investment, including important recent projects in logistics, renewable energy and real estate. We discussed new opportunities in agriculture, food production, infrastructure and manufacturing and reaffirmed our belief that, by working together, we can build on our positive momentum and support each other’s economic and development ambitions.”
The UAE’s ties with the African continent continue to grow, with a focus on building sustainable partnerships for development. The recent signing of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with Angola brings the number of similar agreements with sub-Saharan African countries to five, including Mauritius, Kenya, Congo-Brazzaville, and the Central African Republic.
Team V.4-EM-UAE
