The President of the Republic of Somaliland, Abdirahman Abdullahi, confirmed that Dubai Ports World has invested $400 million in the port of Berbera and increased its capabilities, so that it has now become an important port that provides services to most African countries that do not have ports.
He said during a dialogue session entitled “How can strategic investments change the economic landscape?”, that the government of the Republic of Somaliland is one of the governments of the future, as our country has a strategic location, and the port of Berbera was previously used during the Cold War by the Russians and Americans due to its strategic location.
Extensive investments
For his part, the Chairman of the Group and CEO of DP World, Sultan bin Sulayem, said: “During the past period, we conducted a study on Ethiopia and saw its need for 5 ports to adapt to the growth witnessed in the population, which exceeds 100 million people.
He pointed out that the port of Berbera is old and has been neglected, so we worked with the government to develop it, and it encouraged us to invest in it.
Bin Sulayem continued: “We are looking forward to the economic gateway between Ethiopia and Somaliland, which facilitates trade between the two countries, as it is close to the main distribution points in Africa, and it is close to Ethiopia, and Ethiopia looks at them positively.”
He continued: “We found the opportunity and developed the port immediately, and indeed shipments began to arrive, and the government provided a plan for industries.”
Sultan bin Sulayem said: “When we invest in any country, we do not have political or strategic motives; The most important thing for us is to exploit the location, and we look at its GDP.”
He stressed that working with Africa has been very important to us for centuries, for example we have investments in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, noting that relations with the African continent are very good.
https://www.emaratalyoum.com/business/arab-and-inter/2025-02-11-1.1920013