HE Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi meets HE Mpho Parks Tau to deepen UAE-South Africa trade and investment ties

• Non-oil trade between the UAE and South Africa grew 14% in 2024 to reach USD$8.5 billion.
• HE Al Zeyoudi: “The UAE is committed to enhancing its economic partnership with South Africa, focused on encouraging new avenues for private sector collaboration that will benefit both our nations.”

Dubai, UAE -  9^th November, 2025: His Excellency Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of Foreign Trade, met His Excellency Mpho Parks Tau, South Africa’s Minister of Trade, Industry & Competition, to discuss ways to increase trade, investment, and private-sector collaboration between the two nations. The meeting underscored the UAE's commitment to strengthening its economic relationships with South Africa and the wider African continent, recognizing their increasing importance in global trade dynamics.

This meeting follows an earlier roundtable between officials and business leaders from both the UAE and South Africa. The roundtable involved the participation of His Excellency Fahad Al Gergawi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Trade, and a delegation from South Africa. During the meeting, both sides reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening cooperation between their respective private sectors and developing deeper economic relations to achieve mutual prosperity.

During his meeting with HE Tau, HE Al Zeyoudi highlighted the impressive growth in non-oil trade between the UAE and South Africa, which reached USD$8.5 billion in 2024 - a 14% increase compared to 2023 and 120% more than 2019. This impressive momentum continued in the first half of 2025, with the two sides recording USD$3.93 billion in non-oil trade. These figures make South Africa the UAE’s second largest trading partner in Africa, comprising 7.6% of total non-oil trade with the continent, and the 22^nd largest globally.

Speaking of the strong bilateral economic ties that exist between the two nations, HE Al Zeyoudi said: “South Africa is a vital partner for the UAE in Africa. My conversations today with His Excellency Tau underscore the close bonds we share in trade and investment, including important recent projects in logistics, renewable energy and real estate. We discussed new opportunities in agriculture, food production, infrastructure and manufacturing and reaffirmed our belief that, by working together, we can build on our positive momentum and support each other’s economic and development ambitions.”

The UAE's relations with the African continent have been steadily expanding, with a strong focus on fostering partnerships that lead to sustainable growth and development. With the recent signing of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with Angola, the UAE has now signed CEPAs with five sub-Saharan African nations including Mauritius, Kenya, Congo-Brazzaville, and the Central African Republic.