Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, DP World Group chairman and CEO, has welcomed efforts by African nations to improve their infrastructure, as it seeks to expand port facilities on the continent.
On a tour of Africa, Bin Sulayem visited a number of countries including Nigeria, where he met with Akinwunmi Ambode, Governor of Lagos State and discussed ways to develop logistics services and to increase their efficiency and use.
Bin Sulayem, said: “The productive partnerships we have forged with governments, especially in Africa, which represents a major part of our network, underlines how public and private sector organisations working together can look to develop the infrastructure needed to support economic growth and attract investment.
“In countries such as Nigeria and others across the continent senior officials expressed a genuine determination to overcome obstacles to economic development, especially the inability of infrastructure to keep pace with the strong growth on the continent in the past few years.
“We expressed our readiness to support the efforts being made to develop ports and logistics centres… to promote the international role of the UAE and Dubai in developing the global economy.”
DP World has operations in Senegal, Egypt, Mozambique, Djibouti, and Algeria and recently signed an agreement with the Republic of Somaliland to invest in a multi-purpose port project at Berbera.
It also secured a 25-year concession to develop and operate a new logistics centre in Kigali, Rwanda at the beginning of 2016.
Bin Sulayem’s come as a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit noted that the quality of infrastructure represents a major hurdle for the integration of African trade with the global economy.
The report said that the continent’s ports do not play a significant role in international marine shipping and that port vessel turnaround times lag behind other markets. Other modes of transport such as rail also need encouraging given Africa’s size.
