President Hakainde Hichilema has witnessed the signing of memoranda of understanding worth US$2.14 billion at the Zambia-UAE Business Forum in Abu Dhabi, the first foreign trip of his renewed mandate. The two-day working visit, running from 29 to 30 September, is at the invitation of UAE President and Ruler of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The agreements span several sectors. The President said Zambia now looks forward to a Comprehensive Partnership Agreement that will lift trade between the two countries. It is a strong opening to a second term that has put economic diplomacy at the centre of foreign policy.

“The UAE has harnessed its natural resources to develop its economy and raise the living standards of its people. As a country richly endowed with natural resources, we have much to learn from the UAE,” the President said.

The visit is a working visit rather than a full State visit, and it has been described that way from the start. It is, however, a packed and purposeful programme. It includes an official bilateral meeting between the two Heads of State, the business and investment forum, direct talks with Emirati business leaders and a meeting with Zambians living in the UAE. It is a working visit in the truest sense of the word.

At the forum, President Hichilema gave investors a clear number to work with. He said Zambia’s target of three million tonnes of copper a year will require about 8,000 megawatts of electricity, and that this is for copper alone, before the needs of the wider economy. He pointed to energy reforms that now open the door to independent power producers, electricity traders and private investment in transmission and distribution. He also offered long-term power purchase agreements of 20 to 25 years as a stable market for patient capital. The UAE’s Undersecretary for Foreign Trade, Fahad Siddiq Al Gergawi, said his country sees clear room to deepen cooperation with Zambia in agriculture, energy, healthcare and the digital economy.

The partnership already carries weight. Emirati-backed International Resources Holding has invested more than US$1.1 billion in Mopani Copper Mines, now a pillar of the copper drive. Zambia opened its embassy in Abu Dhabi in 2023, and the UAE posted its first resident ambassador to Lusaka this month. Sheikh Mohamed was also among the leaders who congratulated President Hichilema on his re-election in August.

Claims circulating on social media and in some local outlets have questioned the timing of the trip, suggesting the UAE was in a period of national mourning. The facts are more specific. A 10-day mourning period was declared in the Emirate of Dubai following the death of Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the youngest brother of Dubai’s Ruler, and it applies to Dubai. The President’s engagements are in Abu Dhabi, the federal capital and a separate emirate, where the business forum went ahead with senior UAE officials in attendance.

The visit also comes as questions are asked about trade figures between the two countries. UAE records show far higher imports from Zambia than Zambia records as exports to the UAE, and gold accounts for most of the difference. Trade analysts note that such gaps often arise from how countries record the origin and destination of goods, and that they are not in themselves proof of wrongdoing. Government is already acting on the gold question, with ZCCM-IH moving to bring small-scale gold into formal channels and a cut to the 16 per cent VAT on gold transactions under consideration. A closer trade relationship with the UAE puts Zambia in a stronger position to reconcile those records and capture more value from its own gold.

The memoranda signed in Abu Dhabi are the first step. Their true worth will show as pledges turn into power plants, processing lines and jobs on Zambian soil, and the Comprehensive Partnership Agreement will give that work a firmer footing. For now, the message from Abu Dhabi is one of confidence in Zambia’s direction.

“Zambia remains open and ready for business and investment,” President Hichilema said.

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