UAE Expands Its Africa Trade Push With Visits to Senegal and Gabon: Non-Oil Trade With the Continent Up 41.6% to USD 158 Billion (AED 580 Billion) in 2025, Senegal Trade Up 24.5% to USD 1.3 Billion and a CEPA With Gabon Signed in February 2026

2026-09-07

The UAE’s non-oil trade with Africa reached about USD 158 billion (AED 580 billion) in 2025, up 41.6% on 2024, and the continent’s share of the country’s total non-oil trade rose to 15.5% from 10.8% in 2019, the Ministry of Foreign Trade said as Minister of Foreign Trade Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi visited Senegal and Gabon on 4 and 5 September 2026. In Dakar, President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye received the UAE delegation; non-oil trade between the two countries grew 24.5% to about USD 1.3 billion (AED 4.77 billion) in 2025, and bilateral trade exceeded USD 751 million (AED 2.76 billion) in the first half of 2026, up 31%. In Libreville, President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema received the minister seven months after the UAE and Gabon signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in Abu Dhabi on 7 February 2026; UAE non-oil exports to Gabon rose 27% to USD 61.1 million (AED 224 million) in 2025 and more than doubled to USD 62.7 million (AED 230 million) in the first half of 2026. UAE investments across Africa exceeded USD 110 billion (AED 404 billion) between 2019 and 2024, and the CEPA programme has concluded 38 agreements since September 2021, 18 of them in force. Gulf News reported the visits on 6 September 2026 with inputs from the Emirates News Agency (WAM).

What happened in Dakar and Libreville

The Senegal leg came first. On 4 September 2026 President Faye received Dr Al Zeyoudi and the accompanying delegation, which included the UAE Ambassador to Senegal Saeed Hamdan Alnaqbi and Mohammed Rashid bin Tali’a, Assistant Minister of Cabinet Affairs for Government Knowledge Exchange, according to the ministry’s statement of 5 September. The talks covered ways to increase trade flows, encourage mutual investment and expand engagement between businesses in mining, renewable energy, infrastructure, food security and logistics. The minister also met the Prime Minister and the Minister of Mines and Geology, and business-to-business meetings brought together ministers, officials and business leaders from both countries to review trade and investment opportunities and private-sector partnerships. “Senegal is an important strategic partner for the UAE in West Africa,” the minister said. The visit followed his previous trip to Dakar in December 2025, when 13 memorandums of understanding were signed covering energy, logistics, mining, industrial development, digital technologies, construction and healthcare, at a time when non-oil trade for the first nine months of 2025 stood at USD 933 million (AED 3.43 billion), up 21.1%.

In Gabon, President Nguema received the delegation in Libreville. The talks focused on trade and investment relations and covered technology and infrastructure, and the UAE side met the officials responsible for transport, commerce, energy, finance, oil and gas. Dr Al Zeyoudi attended the official opening of the SOLEN solar power plant at Ayémé Plaine (spelled Aimé Plaine in the ministry’s release), a 120 MW project built in two 60 MW phases about 30 km north-east of Libreville by the French independent power producer Solen, with the output sold to the national utility SEEG; in March 2026 the developer secured EUR 28 million of financing for what it describes as Gabon’s first utility-scale solar-plus-storage project. The delegation also visited the Nok Private Investment Zone. This was the minister’s second visit to Libreville in 2026: the first took place in February, days after the CEPA signing, and included meetings with Gabon’s Minister of Economy Thierry Minko and the ministers for mines, oil and gas, energy, agriculture and health.

The numbers behind the visits

AED amounts are converted at the dirham’s fixed rate of 3.6725 to the US dollar where the source gives US dollars. The 2025 figure of USD 158 billion for Africa is consistent with the USD 112 billion the ministry reported for 2024 and with a 15.5% share of the AED 3.8 trillion (about USD 1.03 trillion) national total.

The UAE-Gabon CEPA signed in February 2026

The agreement was signed in Abu Dhabi on 7 February 2026 in the presence of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and President Nguema, by Dr Al Zeyoudi and Gabon’s Minister of Economy, Finance, Debt and Investment Thierry Minko. Its stated aims are to reduce or remove tariffs, eliminate trade barriers and increase investment flows, with agriculture, logistics, mining and renewable energy named as priority sectors, along with food production and services. Gabon’s gross domestic product was USD 20.6 billion (AED 75.7 billion) in 2024, according to the signing announcement. Key UAE export categories to Gabon in 2025 were perfumes and consumer goods, petroleum distillates and industrial equipment. The official statements describe the agreement as signed; neither the February announcement nor the September release gives a date of entry into force, which under the UAE’s practice follows ratification by both sides. The Gabon agreement is one of the 38 concluded under the programme; for the full picture of how the network works and which agreements are already applied, see our overview of the UAE’s 38 CEPA network.

Africa in the UAE’s trade map

The 15.5% share is the headline number for anyone who plans a business around the UAE-Africa corridor. In 2019 Africa accounted for 10.8% of the UAE’s non-oil trade; six years later the continent takes more than one dirham in seven. The growth came on top of a record year for the country as a whole: non-oil foreign trade reached AED 3.8 trillion in 2025, up 27% on 2024 and 44.3% on 2023, with non-oil exports of AED 813.8 billion, up 45.5%, according to the Ministry of Foreign Trade’s announcement of 31 January 2026. The USD 1.1 trillion target set for 2031, equivalent to AED 4 trillion, is therefore within a few percentage points of the 2025 result.

Investment is following trade. The ministry puts UAE investments across Africa at more than USD 110 billion between 2019 and 2024. Recent examples covered on this site include Abu Dhabi’s ePointZero buying 90% of Azura Power with 752 MW of generation in Africa and DP World’s AED 4 billion of capital expenditure across the Middle East, Europe and Africa in the first half of 2026. On the trade side, the emirate-level data point in the same direction: Abu Dhabi’s non-oil foreign trade rose 17.9% to AED 230.6 billion in the first half of 2026.

What the Africa push means for a business in the UAE

• A UAE company is the standard vehicle for African trade. The export categories named for Gabon, perfumes and consumer goods, petroleum distillates and industrial equipment, are goods that are typically distributed or re-exported from Dubai and Abu Dhabi rather than manufactured in the buyer’s market. A trading licence on the mainland or in a free zone such as JAFZA, DMCC or KEZAD, with the right activity codes for the goods, is the first step; see our company setup service.
• CEPA preferences apply to goods that meet rules of origin. Tariff cuts under a CEPA are available to products that qualify as originating in the UAE or the partner country under the agreement’s rules, supported by a certificate of origin. Pure transit trade in third-country goods does not qualify, so the benefit goes to companies that add value in the UAE or source from the partner country.
• Payments and trade finance require a UAE bank account. Banks apply enhanced due diligence to trade with several African markets: they ask for the licence, the ownership chart, contracts with counterparties, shipping documents and the source of funds. The file a bank expects from a new trading company is described in our bank account opening service.
• Staff who cover the region need UAE residence. Sales and logistics managers who work with Senegal, Gabon or other African markets from the UAE need residence visas and work permits sponsored by the UAE company; see work visas and residency.
• The sectors are named. Mining, renewable energy, infrastructure, food security and logistics for Senegal; agriculture, logistics, mining, renewable energy, technology and infrastructure for Gabon. Suppliers of equipment and services in these sectors can expect the business-to-business meetings the ministry organises around each visit to continue.

How Atlant Capital can help

Atlant Capital registers trading, logistics and services companies on the UAE mainland and in the free zones, selects the jurisdiction and the activity list for import, export and re-export operations and prepares the licence documents (company setup). We open corporate accounts with UAE banks and prepare the file a bank expects from a company that trades with African counterparties (bank account opening). We process residence visas and work permits for owners, directors and employees (work visas and residency). Accounting, audit, VAT and corporate tax are handled by licensed accounting firms from our partner network.

Conclusion

Two visits in two days, on 4 and 5 September 2026, restated the UAE’s numbers for Africa: non-oil trade of about USD 158 billion in 2025, up 41.6%, a 15.5% share of the country’s non-oil trade, more than USD 110 billion of investment in six years and a CEPA network of 38 agreements that now includes Gabon. Trade with Senegal grew 24.5% to about USD 1.3 billion in 2025 and 31% in the first half of 2026; UAE exports to Gabon rose 27% in 2025 and more than doubled in the first half of 2026. For a company based in the UAE the practical reading is that the state is opening the doors and organising the meetings; the licence, the bank account and the documentation that make a deal bankable remain the company’s own job.

FAQ

How much does the UAE trade with Africa?

The UAE’s non-oil trade with Africa reached about USD 158 billion (AED 580 billion) in 2025, up 41.6% from USD 112 billion in 2024, according to the Ministry of Foreign Trade’s statements of 5 September 2026. Africa’s share of the UAE’s total non-oil trade rose to 15.5% in 2025 from 10.8% in 2019, and UAE investments across the continent exceeded USD 110 billion between 2019 and 2024.

What did Al Zeyoudi’s visits to Senegal and Gabon cover?

On 4 September 2026 President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye received the UAE Minister of Foreign Trade in Dakar; the talks covered mining, renewable energy, infrastructure, food security and logistics, and business-to-business meetings were held. In Libreville, President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema received the delegation, the minister attended the opening of the SOLEN solar plant at Ayémé Plaine and visited the Nok Private Investment Zone, and meetings covered technology and infrastructure with officials for transport, commerce, energy, finance, oil and gas.

Is the UAE-Gabon CEPA in force?

The agreement was signed in Abu Dhabi on 7 February 2026 by Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi and Gabon’s Minister of Economy, Finance, Debt and Investment Thierry Minko, in the presence of both presidents. It aims to reduce tariffs, remove trade barriers and increase investment in agriculture, logistics, mining and renewable energy. The official announcements describe it as signed and do not give a date of entry into force, which follows ratification by both countries; of the 38 CEPAs the UAE has concluded since September 2021, 18 were in force as of September 2026.

How does a UAE company benefit from CEPA tariff cuts when exporting to Africa?

Tariff preferences under a CEPA apply to goods that qualify as originating in the UAE or the partner country under the agreement’s rules of origin and are shipped with a certificate of origin. A company needs a UAE trade licence with the right activities, a corporate bank account for trade finance and payments, and residence visas for the staff who cover the market. Goods simply transiting the UAE from a third country do not qualify for the preference.