11 September 2026
On 10 September 2026 in Berlin, during the state visit of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the two countries announced a UAE investment package totalling EUR 40 billion in Germany. The joint declaration published by WAM sets out what sits inside it: investments in advanced digital infrastructure, including new data centres with a capacity of approximately 1 GW. Alongside the package, UAE and German companies signed 29 business-to-business memoranda and agreements with a total value exceeding EUR 9.356 billion, and the German side agreed to add a fifth point to the route schedule for one UAE national carrier. The package flows into Germany, not out of it, so for a company based in the UAE nothing in licensing, tax or visa procedure changes on the date of this article. Two lines of the declaration do matter for cross-border business, and both are covered below.
What was announced on 10 September 2026
The state visit ran from 9 to 11 September 2026 at the invitation of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. It was the first state visit by a UAE President to Germany, and the President also met Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The two leaders announced a Strategic Dialogue format intended to revitalise the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership founded in 2004, and welcomed a Joint Declaration of Intent on establishing the German-UAE Investment Council.
The headline figure is the EUR 40 billion package. The declaration describes it as reflecting the confidence of the UAE in Germany as a destination for investment, innovation and industrial growth, and states that it is expected to contribute to strengthening industrial competitiveness and supporting long-term economic growth in Germany. The wording is forward looking. The declaration gives no completion date, no breakdown by project and no named recipient entities for the EUR 40 billion as a whole.
Separately from the package, the declaration welcomes plans for further corporate investments and partnerships involving Covestro, RWE, ADNOC and Masdar, and it recalls the existing investment by XRG in Covestro of approximately EUR 15 billion. That EUR 15 billion is a prior commitment and sits outside the EUR 40 billion figure, which is why the two numbers should not be added together.
The 29 corporate agreements: EUR 9.356 billion, not EUR 9.4 billion
Several news reports rounded the corporate agreements up to more than EUR 9.4 billion. The joint declaration is more precise: 29 business-to-business memoranda and agreements with a total value exceeding EUR 9.356 billion. The difference is small in absolute terms, but it matters when a figure is quoted in a board paper or an investment memo, so the table below sets out which number counts what, and who published it.
| Figure | What it actually counts | Source |
|---|---|---|
| EUR 40 billion | New UAE investment package announced for Germany, no date or project split given | Joint declaration, 10 September 2026 |
| EUR 9.356 billion | Combined value of 29 company to company memoranda and agreements signed during the visit | Joint declaration, 10 September 2026 |
| Approximately 1 GW | Capacity of the new data centres inside the package, expressed as electrical capacity, not as money | Joint declaration, 10 September 2026 |
| Approximately EUR 15 billion | Existing XRG investment in Covestro, a prior commitment outside the EUR 40 billion | Joint declaration, 10 September 2026 |
| USD 15.5 billion | Bilateral non-oil trade in 2025, up by more than 14% on 2024 | Joint declaration, 10 September 2026 |
| Above USD 10 billion | Cumulative investment flows in both directions across 2021 to 2025 | Joint declaration, 10 September 2026 |
Note that the trade and investment-flow figures in the declaration are stated in USD, while the package and the corporate agreements are stated in EUR. They are different baskets on different measurement bases, and converting between them to build a single total produces a number that no official document supports. Our earlier analysis of the state visit and the bilateral trade background shows how widely the published trade figures for this relationship vary depending on what is being counted.
About 1 GW of data centres: what the declaration does and does not say
The most concrete industrial element of the package is digital infrastructure. The declaration states that the package includes investments in advanced digital infrastructure, including the development of new state-of-the-art data centres with a capacity of approximately 1 GW, and that Germany underscored its commitment to fostering a favourable environment for their implementation.
What the declaration does not contain is equally worth recording: no sites, no operator names, no construction timetable, no power-supply arrangements and no split of the EUR 40 billion between data centres and the other sectors mentioned, which are industry, advanced technology, artificial intelligence and energy. A capacity of approximately 1 GW is a statement of intended scale, not a permit or a signed grid connection. Anyone planning around this should wait for project-level announcements rather than treat the gigawatt as committed capacity.
The digital theme runs through the visit in another form. The leaders welcomed a Joint Declaration of Intent on exploring cooperation on data hosting and information systems through the establishment of data embassies, described as a model of technology diplomacy built on secure and resilient digital infrastructure. This continues a pattern visible in other UAE technology partnerships this year, including the UAE and France satellite constellation programme.
Aviation: a fifth German point, capped at current frequencies
This is the item most often reported imprecisely, so the exact wording matters. The declaration states that the German side agreed to add an additional fifth point to the route schedule, permitting one UAE national carrier to operate an agreed number of frequencies to the fifth point, in addition to the four existing points in Germany, which will be capped at the current number of frequencies for this carrier.
Three points follow from that sentence. First, the declaration names neither Berlin nor a specific airline. Press coverage supplied both, because Emirates has long sought access to Berlin and currently serves four German airports: Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf and Hamburg. Second, the number of destinations rises from four to five, but the total number of frequencies for that carrier is capped at the current level. In practice this is a redistribution of existing capacity across one more city, not an increase in seats between the two countries. Third, a route still requires traffic rights to be granted in operational form. Emirates has reserved slots at Berlin Brandenburg for the winter 2026/27 season with a possible launch in December 2026, but airport slots and traffic rights are different things, and the reporting as at the date of this article describes the final German decision as still outstanding.
For travellers and for companies running staff rotations between the two countries, the practical reading is that a Berlin service becomes possible rather than scheduled, and that overall capacity is unlikely to grow, because the cap applies to the carrier as a whole. European route expansion into the UAE continues on other fronts, as with the wider trade and connectivity agenda between the Gulf and Europe.
The double taxation agreement: the line that matters most
One sentence in the declaration has more direct consequence for cross-border business than the EUR 40 billion headline. Both sides looked forward to the early conclusion of the remaining instruments under negotiation, including on the avoidance of double taxation.
The context explains why this is significant. Germany did not extend its 2010 income tax treaty with the UAE. It notified the UAE on 14 June 2021, the treaty expired on 31 December 2021, and it has not been replaced. Since 1 January 2022 there has been no double taxation agreement in force between Germany and the UAE, and German domestic law applies on the German side without treaty relief. For owners and managers with income, shareholdings or residence spanning both countries, that gap has been a live planning problem for four years.
What changed on 10 September 2026 is political signalling, not law. A new treaty is described as under negotiation, with both governments stating that they look forward to its early conclusion. There is no signed text, no publication date, no entry-into-force date and no ratification. Nothing in a current tax position should be changed on the strength of this sentence. It does, however, justify keeping the file open and reviewing structures once a text appears, particularly for anyone who restructured after 2021 specifically because the treaty lapsed. If your structure touches both jurisdictions, the sequencing of a UAE company registration and of personal residence should be reviewed against the treaty text when it is published, not against the announcement.
The institutional layer: three bodies, one direction
Beyond the money, the visit produced a governance structure. Three mechanisms were named:
- Strategic Dialogue. A new format to steer cooperation across security, defence, trade and investment, energy and climate, emerging technology, digitalisation, economy, transportation, environment, culture and education.
- German-UAE Investment Council. Established through a Joint Declaration of Intent as a platform to advance investments and strengthen engagement between the public and private sectors. We covered the proposal for this council when it was first set out ahead of the visit.
- Joint Economic Committee. Resumed after a pause, alongside the outcomes of the UAE-Germany Business Forum.
None of the three has a published membership list, secretariat, budget or date for a first meeting. They are containers created at political level, and their practical value will be visible only once they start producing documents.
Two further instruments were signed that are worth noting for mobility and compliance: facilitation of entry for UAE citizens at German airports through the EasyPASS system, and an agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters. EasyPASS applies to UAE citizens, not to UAE residents holding other passports, which is a distinction that often gets lost in summaries.
What this changes for business in the UAE
An honest checklist as at 11 September 2026:
- Licensing and company registration: no change. No free zone rule, activity list, share capital requirement or approval route is affected by the package.
- Corporate tax and VAT in the UAE: no change. The declaration touches a bilateral treaty with Germany, not UAE domestic tax law.
- Banking: no change today. Onboarding standards and documentation for a UAE corporate bank account are set by the banks and the regulator, not by a joint declaration.
- Visas and residence: no change. Requirements for a work visa and residence permit are unaffected. EasyPASS is a border-crossing convenience for UAE citizens entering Germany.
- Document legalisation: no change. German documents used in the UAE still follow the existing route, which we describe under document legalisation.
- Worth tracking: the tax treaty. The single item that would genuinely alter planning for German-UAE structures, with no date attached.
- Worth tracking: the fifth air point. Relevant to travel budgets and staff rotation, with capacity capped rather than expanded.
- Worth tracking: UAE and EU negotiations. The declaration records progress on the UAE-EU agreement, which would have far wider effect on goods flows than a bilateral package. Our review of UAE non-oil trade and the CEPA programme covers how these agreements have moved trade in practice.
The broader read is that capital is moving from the Gulf into European industrial and digital assets at a scale that is now routine rather than exceptional, a trend also visible in projections for the regional investment cycle to 2030. That has consequences for where UAE holding structures hold their assets, and it is the reason the tax treaty question is more than a technicality.
How Atlant Capital can help
We work with owners and managers whose business spans the UAE and Europe. On this topic specifically, we can review whether an existing UAE structure is positioned sensibly for the period before a Germany-UAE tax treaty exists, and what would need revisiting once a text is published. We handle company registration and licensing in the free zones and on the mainland, corporate bank account opening, residence visas for founders and staff, and legalisation of corporate and personal documents for use between the two jurisdictions. Where a decision depends on a document that has not yet been signed, we will say so plainly rather than build a plan on an announcement.
Conclusion
The EUR 40 billion package is a statement of intended capital flow into Germany, backed on the day by 29 corporate agreements worth more than EUR 9.356 billion and an intention to build around 1 GW of data centre capacity. For a business operating from the UAE, the package itself changes nothing procedural. The two items worth a calendar reminder are the resumed negotiation of a double taxation agreement, absent since 1 January 2022, and the fifth German route point for one UAE carrier, capped at current frequencies. Both are commitments to conclude something later, and neither is in force as at 11 September 2026.
FAQ
How much is the UAE investing in Germany and what does the package include?
The joint declaration of 10 September 2026 announces a UAE investment package totalling EUR 40 billion in Germany, roughly USD 46.5 billion. It covers industry, advanced technology, artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure and energy, and specifically includes new data centres with a capacity of approximately 1 GW. The declaration gives no completion date and no breakdown by project, and this package is separate from the approximately EUR 34 billion the UAE had already invested in Germany.
How many agreements were signed and what are they worth?
UAE and German companies signed 29 business-to-business memoranda and agreements with a total value exceeding EUR 9.356 billion. Some news coverage rounded this to more than EUR 9.4 billion. The figure of EUR 9.356 billion is the one stated in the official joint declaration published on 10 September 2026, and it covers the corporate agreements only, not the EUR 40 billion package.
Did Germany approve an Emirates route from Berlin to Dubai?
Not in those terms. The declaration says the German side agreed to add a fifth point to the route schedule for one UAE national carrier, in addition to the four existing German points, with frequencies capped at that carrier current level. It names neither Berlin nor Emirates. Emirates has reserved slots at Berlin Brandenburg for winter 2026/27, but slots are not traffic rights, and the number of destinations rises while total frequencies do not.
Is there a double taxation agreement between Germany and the UAE?
No. Germany allowed the 2010 treaty to lapse after notifying the UAE on 14 June 2021, and it expired on 31 December 2021 without replacement. There has been no agreement in force since 1 January 2022. In the declaration of 10 September 2026 both sides said they look forward to the early conclusion of the instruments still under negotiation, including on the avoidance of double taxation, but no text has been signed or published and no entry-into-force date exists.
Does this change company registration, tax or visa rules in the UAE?
No. The package directs capital into Germany and does not amend UAE licensing, corporate tax, VAT, banking or visa requirements. Companies registering in the UAE follow the same procedures as before 10 September 2026. The only measure with direct effect on individuals is the EasyPASS facilitation at German airports, which applies to UAE citizens rather than to all UAE residents.
