The United Arab Emirates moved to strengthen its economic ties with Senegal and Gabon this week, with Minister of Foreign Trade Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi leading delegations to Dakar and Libreville focused on mining, renewable energy, infrastructure, logistics and food security.
In Senegal, Al Zeyoudi met with President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, with business-to-business sessions bringing together officials and private-sector leaders from both countries to explore new investment opportunities. UAE-Senegal non-oil trade climbed to roughly $1.3 billion in 2025, up nearly a quarter from the previous year, and reached over $751 million in the first half of 2026 alone — a 31 percent jump compared with the same period last year.
In Gabon, President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema received the UAE delegation in Libreville, where discussions centered on translating the countries’ growing economic momentum into concrete business opportunities. Non-oil trade between the UAE and Gabon totaled roughly $320 million in 2025, more than double what it was in 2021, and bilateral non-oil trade in the first half of 2026 reached $141.7 million, with UAE exports to Gabon more than doubling year-on-year to $62.7 million. The visit builds on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement the two countries signed in Abu Dhabi in February, aimed at cutting tariffs and expanding investment in agriculture, logistics, mining and renewable energy.
The outreach forms part of a broader UAE strategy to expand its footprint across the African continent, where its non-oil trade reached $112 billion in 2024, up 34 percent from the prior year. The UAE has also positioned itself as Africa’s largest source of new foreign direct investment over the past several years, having invested more than $110 billion across the continent since 2019.
