UAE, South Africa explore boosting bilateral trade, investment ties

Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Foreign Trade, met with Mpho Parks Tau, South Africa’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, to discuss ways to increase trade, investment, and private-sector collaboration between the two nations.

The meeting underscored the UAE's commitment to strengthening its economic relationships with South Africa and the wider African continent, recognising their increasing importance in global trade dynamics.

This meeting follows an earlier roundtable between officials and business leaders from both the UAE and South Africa. The roundtable involved the participation of Fahad Al Gergawi, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Trade, and a delegation from South Africa.

During the meeting, both sides reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening cooperation between their respective private sectors and developing deeper economic relations to achieve mutual prosperity.

During his meeting with Tau, Al Zeyoudi highlighted the impressive growth in non-oil trade between the UAE and South Africa, which reached $8.5 billion in 2024, a 14 percent increase compared to 2023 and 120 percent more than 2019. It continued in the first half of 2025, with the two sides recording $3.93 billion in non-oil trade. These figures make South Africa the UAE’s second largest trading partner in Africa, comprising 7.6 per cent of total non-oil trade with the continent, and the 22nd largest globally.

Speaking of the strong bilateral economic ties that exist between the two nations, Al Zeyoudi said, “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 relations with the African continent have been steadily expanding, with a strong focus on fostering partnerships that lead to sustainable growth and development. With the recent signing of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with Angola, the UAE has now signed CEPAs with five sub-Saharan African nations including Mauritius, Kenya, Congo-Brazzaville, and the Central African Republic.