UAE backs Africa investment forum in Dubai

Dubai will host a high-level Africa investment forum on 22 October 2026 as Invest Africa and the Government of the United Arab Emirates move to deepen trade, finance and technology partnerships across one of the world’s fastest-growing economic corridors.

The Africa Debate – UAE, organised in collaboration with the UAE Ministry of Foreign Trade, will bring senior figures from government, finance, industry and development institutions under the theme “From Vision to Impact: Partnerships for a New Era.” The forum is designed to examine how capital, policy and private-sector execution can deliver measurable outcomes across trade corridors, energy systems, agriculture, digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence.

The partnership places Dubai at the centre of a widening Gulf-Africa investment conversation, with the UAE positioning itself as a gateway for capital flows, logistics networks and new-economy ventures linking Africa with Asia, Europe and the Middle East. The agenda is expected to focus on bankable projects, risk-sharing structures and policy frameworks capable of turning high-level commitments into commercial transactions.

Invest Africa, a platform that promotes trade and investment across the continent, has expanded The Africa Debate brand beyond its London base as governments and investors seek more direct engagement with African markets. The UAE edition follows earlier Dubai gatherings that focused on the role of Gulf capital in infrastructure, energy transition, logistics, financial services and technology-led growth.

The 2026 forum comes as economic relations between the UAE and African countries continue to gain scale. Bilateral trade reached about $107 billion in 2024, while UAE investment into African economies exceeded $118 billion between 2020 and 2024. The figures underline the Emirates’ growing role as a major investor across ports, renewable energy, mining, food security, telecoms, data infrastructure and financial services.

Artificial intelligence is expected to feature prominently at the Dubai meeting after the UAE announced a $1 billion AI for Development initiative aimed at expanding AI infrastructure and services across Africa. The programme is intended to support applications in education, healthcare, climate adaptation and public services, while also strengthening the UAE’s ambition to become a global hub for advanced technology deployment.

Energy and infrastructure will form another key pillar of the discussions. African governments are seeking capital for grids, renewable power, gas monetisation, transmission networks and transport corridors, while Gulf investors are looking for long-term opportunities aligned with food security, industrial supply chains and critical minerals. The forum is expected to explore how blended finance, guarantees and development-bank participation can lower perceived risk and unlock private investment.

Agriculture and the agri-economy are also likely to be central to the programme, reflecting Africa’s strategic role in global food systems and the UAE’s own focus on supply resilience. Investment in storage, processing, irrigation, logistics and market access has become increasingly important as African producers seek to move up the value chain and reduce post-harvest losses.

The meeting will also take place against a changing global investment environment. Development finance remains under pressure, while African economies face rising demand for infrastructure, energy access and climate adaptation funding. The continent’s annual development financing gap is estimated at hundreds of billions of dollars, increasing the need for institutional capital, trade credit, guarantees and commercially viable public-private partnerships.

Dubai’s convening role is significant because the emirate has built one of the world’s most connected trade ecosystems, combining ports, aviation, free zones, financial services and professional advisory networks. Those strengths have made it a practical base for companies managing African operations, family offices evaluating frontier opportunities and investment firms structuring cross-border deals.

The UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Trade has increasingly emphasised private-sector partnerships as central to its external economic strategy. The creation of a dedicated foreign trade ministry in 2025 gave the country a sharper institutional platform to pursue market access, trade agreements and investment partnerships across priority regions, including Africa.