Between Foreign Policy and Development Assistance: The UAE International Cooperation in Africa

Abstract

After 2013, the UAE multiplied the international aid tenfold to the African continent. From this year onwards, the aid has never dropped below $1 billion, three times the amount allocated prior to 2013. What are the main drivers of this change? This article postulates that three main factors triggered a heightened international aid in the African continent: economic considerations (trade and investments), security issues and a new approach to international cooperation. Official data allows the comparison of the evolution of the Emirati economic interests (mainly trade) with the aid. The statistics show that there are connections between trade and aid but no direct correlations. Over the last two decades, the nexus formed with economics, security and humanitarianism has become more visible. The best way to analyze the bilateral relations between the UAE and African states is probably to pay more attention to the depth of the relations rather than to the sectors that they cover.

Keywords:

• UAE and Africa
• UAE foreign policy
• UAE international cooperation
• Islamic charity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 OECD. ODA to Africa – Summary, OECD Africa-Development-Aid 2020.pdf accessed March 16, 2022.

2 Statistics Centre − Abu Dhabi (SCAD) https://www.scad.gov.ae/en/pages/AboutUs.aspx Dubai Statistical Center (DSC) https://www.dsc.gov.ae/en-us/About-Us/Pages/default.aspx and The Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre (FCSC) https://fcsc.gov.ae/en-us/Pages/About-Us/About-FCSA.aspx accessed March 30, 2022.

3 For the MoE: https://www.moec.gov.ae/en/open-data accessed March 30, 2022.

4 To go into details, for instance to see the relations between trade, investments and aid, statistics on the sectors and on the breakdown of aid would be helpful. These statistical series are not available for Africa.

5 For the other countries, see Appendix 1.

6 The table relies on the numbers of each annual reports which incorporate the committed funds. Some might not have been allocated. For the cohesion, no corrections have been incorporated. In some annual reports, there is a table of the evolution over the last three years which differs from the previous numbers.

7 The development below uses the UAE taxonomy.

8 Al Maktoum Foundation; Dar Al Ber (Charitable organization); Dubai Cares (Education); Dubai Charity Organization; Khalifa Foundation; Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiative; Sharjah Charity House; Sultan Bin Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Humanitarian and Scientific Foundation; UAE Water Aid Foundation; UAE University; Zayed Foundation.

9 In theory, it means that the structure is not directly under the responsibility of the federal government (namely the MOFAIC), but under the responsibility of the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

10 ADFD official website, Funding Process (adfd.ae) accessed June 11, 2021.

11 https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/153f7558-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/153f7558-en accessed June 14, 2021.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

William Guéraiche

Dr. William Guéraiche is an associate professor at the University of Wollongong Dubai (UOWD) where he is also the director of the Master of International Relations.

He successively taught at the American University of Dubai (AUD), the American University of Emirates (AUE). His previous book in 2017 ‘The UAE, Geopolitics Modernity and Tradition’ examined the geopolitical issues in the Emirates. In his last edited volume on traditional and non-traditional issues, Facets of Security in the United Arab Emirates, Routledge, 2022, he explores different topics such as Cybersecurity, Demographics and Community security, or the securitization of the COVID 19.