June 3rd, 2025
Via Bloomberg, an article on Madagascar’s efforts to court UAE investment:
Madagascar is seeking to boost investments from the United Arab Emirates to spur growth in its tourism and energy sectors, amid threats of steep tariffs from the US.
The UAE is a key partner for Madagascar, with potential investments in sugar- and vanilla-processing plants, luxury hotels, and energy projects, as well as daily direct flights between Dubai and Antananarivo.
The partnership with the UAE is seen as a way to connect Madagascar to other markets, with the island nation planning to open an embassy in Abu Dhabi and having signed an economic partnership deal with the UAE earlier this year.
Madagascar is seeking to boost investments from the United Arab Emirates to spur growth in its tourism and energy sectors, a partnership that’s become more urgent as its faces steep tariffs from the US.
President Donald Trump in April threatened a 47% reciprocal tariff — one of the world’s highest — on the Indian Ocean island nation, before replacing it with a 10% universal levy. He’s given most countries until July 8 to strike a deal or risk reinstatement of the tariffs.
The US is the country’s third-largest trading partner after China and France, with total trade of $822 million in 2024, Bloomberg data shows.
Madagascar, the world’s largest vanilla producer, is in talks with the US to resolve their trade imbalances after the “shock” tariff announcement, which pushed the African nation to seek investment from countries such as the UAE, Minister of Trade David Ralambofiringa said in an interview in Dubai.
The UAE has been striking deals and making investment pledges across Africa to expand its influence and diversify its income beyond oil. The wealthy Gulf nation was the top capital investor in Africa in 2023, contributing $44 billion in investment, according to an EY report.
Last year, the Abu Dhabi wealth fund ADQ agreed to invest $35 billion in Egypt, most of it to develop prime land on the North African nation’s Mediterranean coast.
Madagascar and the UAE are in talks about potential investments in sugar- and vanilla-processing plants, luxury hotels to support a one-million-tourist goal, and energy projects to meet rising demand from a growing population, Ralambofiringa said.
Sign up here for the twice-weekly Next Africa newsletter, and subscribe to the Next Africa podcast on Apple, Spotify or anywhere you listen.
“We have the land, we have the idea, we have the human capital, but we need partners for the investment,” he said during a visit to the UAE, where a private and public delegation explored opportunities.
It’s also in talks with Emirates Airlines, one of the world’s largest carriers, to start daily direct flights between Dubai and Antananarivo, the capital, a move that would boost trade through air freight.
Madagascar and the UAE signed an economic partnership deal earlier this year to facilitate trade and the island nation plans to open an embassy in Abu Dhabi in a few weeks.
The UAE is not simply a new trade route but a platform that can help the island nation connect to other markets, the minister said.
Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.