{"id":393196,"date":"2025-09-03T00:17:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T00:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/393196\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T00:17:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T00:17:11","slug":"the-gulf-rush-how-europe-can-keep-up-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/393196\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gulf rush: How Europe can keep up in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Problem<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two major Gulf economies made headline moves in Africa last week: Qatari Sheikh Mansoor Al Thani, pledged<\/a> over $100bn in investments during a high-profile tour of several African countries, while the United Arab Emirates\u2019s president, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, signed<\/a> a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with Angola. Together, they lay bare the Gulf\u2019s expanding<\/a> economic and political foothold in Africa\u2014and raise urgent questions on Europe\u2019s ability to keep up.<\/p>\n

Even if some pledges go unfulfilled, the Gulf is poised to fill important gaps<\/a> in infrastructure, energy and finance\u2014securing access to critical minerals, strategic ports and trade corridors that Europe has long targeted. They may also influence the political and economic priorities in these countries, limiting Europe\u2019s leverage over African resources and supply chains.<\/p>\n

Solution<\/strong><\/p>\n

The EU cannot compete with the scale of Gulf wealth flowing to Africa. But it can become more competitive by overcoming slowness and risk aversion<\/a>. Its comparative advantage lies in leveraging its technical know-how and access to its single market to work with African countries to build integrated industrial ecosystems that move production up the value chain and in turn, encourage<\/a> African industrialisation. This is the most urgent demand<\/a> coming from African governments and business leaders and something Gulf actors cannot easily replicate.<\/p>\n

Gulf investments in energy and infrastructure\u2014such as power plants, solar farms and port upgrades\u2014largely stop short of fostering industrial production or local value addition, leaving African needs unmet. This gap presents an opportunity for Europe: by partnering<\/a> with Gulf and African actors, the EU can help link infrastructure projects to industrial development, regional value chains and skills creation. Key sectors include agriculture and agro-processing, light manufacturing, renewable energy and skills training. European markets remain well-positioned to absorb African production, especially as access to American and Chinese markets tightens and Gulf demand remains limited.<\/p>\n

Context<\/strong><\/p>\n

For Qatar, its investment pledge marks a step-change. Its footprint in Africa has so far been modest, largely limited to North Africa and the Horn and very few countries across the continent. But while delivery remains uncertain, the recent tour signals a pivot. Countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia are now in Doha\u2019s sights<\/a>, with Qatar even venturing into state-building roles with potentially high political returns\u2014such as backing the creation of a national development bank in Zambia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The UAE, by contrast, is already one of Africa\u2019s most dynamic external investors<\/a>. The CEPA with Angola\u2014following similar deals<\/a> with Central African Republic, Congo Brazzaville, Kenya and Mauritius\u2014shows the UAE\u2019s ambition to secure privileged access to Angola\u2019s ports, logistics corridors and energy assets. Alongside Emirati and Saudi stakes in mines<\/a> in the DRC and Zambia, it underscores how central and southern Africa are now the frontlines of Gulf economic diplomacy.<\/p>\n

For Europe, this creates opportunities for co-investment, and for multiplying the scale of projects that Africans themselves are demanding. But unless Europe also moves faster, scales up smarter and aligns its engagement with African priorities, it risks ceding both economic and political ground to a new set of powerful players.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tThe European Council on Foreign Relations does not take collective positions. ECFR publications only represent the views of their individual authors.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Problem Two major Gulf economies made headline moves in Africa last week: Qatari Sheikh Mansoor Al Thani, pledged…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187],"class_list":{"0":"post-393196","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115137494753023791","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}