The United Arab Emirates’ rise as a leading investor and trade partner in Africa is reshaping the architecture of Middle East–Africa relations. Recent data showing that South Africa has become the UAE’s second-largest non-oil trade partner on the continent is not simply a bilateral milestone, it is indicative of how Abu Dhabi is repositioning itself as a central bridge between the Middle East and Africa in an increasingly multipolar world.

According to the Emirates News Agency, non-oil trade with South Africa surged to $8.5 billion in 2024, reflecting a 14 percent increase from the previous year and a staggering 120 percent growth since 2019. By mid-2025, trade flows had already reached $3.93 billion, demonstrating the structural nature of this partnership. These figures highlight a larger trend that the UAE is not only deepening its trade footprint across Africa but also anchoring itself as a long-term strategic partner in key sectors such as logistics, renewable energy, agriculture, and infrastructure.

The UAE as a Strategic Hub for African Economies

South Africa’s 3,600 registered companies operating in the UAE illustrate how Abu Dhabi functions as a springboard for African businesses into Gulf and Asian markets. From construction to hospitality to financial services, the UAE provides African entrepreneurs with access to global value chains that would otherwise be more difficult to penetrate.

This hub role is not confined to South Africa. Across the continent, Emirati investment in ports, free zones, and logistics corridors, from Kenya’s Lamu Port to Ethiopia’s renewable energy projects actively demonstrates a consistent pattern. The UAE is embedding itself into Africa’s trade and investment arteries, giving African states both capital inflows and connectivity to wider markets.

Navigating Sanctions and Strategic Diversification

The UAE’s approach is sharpened by the geopolitical climate. With South Africa facing punitive U.S. tariffs in 2025, Pretoria’s pivot to Abu Dhabi underscores how African states are increasingly looking to the Gulf to diversify economic dependence. For the UAE, this dynamic aligns with its own strategic imperative: to deepen partnerships beyond the orbit of Western-dominated financial systems, while maintaining credibility in navigating sanctions regimes.

Abu Dhabi’s experience in balancing compliance with global financial oversight while cultivating emerging market ties makes it a particularly attractive partner for African states seeking resilience under external pressure.

Investment Beyond Trade: Shaping Value Chains

The UAE’s long-term strategy in Africa extends beyond raw trade flows. Its investments are deliberately targeted toward high-growth, high-impact sectors. Partnerships like those between International Resources Holding and South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation show Emirati capital being channeled into mining, renewable energy, and logistics—sectors that can catalyze both industrial development and technology transfer.

This speaks to a larger Emirati ambition: to enable African economies to move up the value chain, reducing their dependency on raw commodity exports and instead fostering sustainable jobs and industrial capacity. By positioning itself as both investor and enabler, the UAE is advancing its reputation as a trusted partner in Africa’s developmental trajectory.

The Middle East–Africa Realignment

The South Africa–UAE trade surge is a microcosm of a wider transformation. The UAE is now among Africa’s largest foreign investors, with major stakes in agriculture, digital infrastructure, and renewable energy. When Kenya turned to the UAE to rescue its stalled railway project after Chinese financing retreated, it revealed a critical inflection: African states are increasingly viewing the UAE not as an alternative to the West, but as a central partner in their economic futures.

South Africa, as Africa’s most industrialized economy and a G20/BRICS+ member, represents a particularly strategic anchor for Abu Dhabi. By strengthening ties with Pretoria, the UAE also gains leverage into continental trade frameworks like the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), reinforcing its role as a conduit between Africa and the global economy.

Balancing Opportunity and Responsibility

Yet opportunities carry responsibilities. As Emirati investment flows into mining, logistics, and large-scale infrastructure, African partners must ensure alignment with global ESG standards. The UAE, as a state intent on building credibility as a sustainable investor, has a strong incentive to integrate environmental safeguards, fair labor practices, and community benefits into its African ventures. Doing so will not only secure African buy-in but also position the UAE as a leader in ethical investment across the Global South.

Toward a Multipolar Trade Order

By centering its African strategy on both trade and transformative investment, the UAE is positioning itself as a linchpin in the emerging multipolar trade order. South Africa’s rapid rise as its second-largest African partner demonstrates how Emirati engagement is reshaping traditional trade dependencies, opening space for Africa and the Middle East to co-define global value chains.

Looking ahead, the UAE’s ambitions are likely to extend to currency settlements, shared logistics platforms, and joint ventures in green technology—steps that would further integrate Middle East and African economies.

In this new chapter, the UAE is not a peripheral investor but a central architect of Middle East–Africa economic relations. South Africa’s experience is simply one lens into a broader story: the steady emergence of Abu Dhabi as the hub through which Africa’s global future increasingly runs.

Written By: 

*Dr Iqbal Survé

Past chairman of the BRICS Business Council and co-chairman of the BRICS Media Forum and the BRNN

*Chloe Maluleke

Associate at BRICS+ Consulting Group 

Russian & Middle Eastern Specialist

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