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UAE and Greece announce expansion of joint investment initiative
An additional €15 billion intention was announced in Athens alongside 18 bilateral memoranda, agreements and partnerships reported at €12.75 billion across strategic sectors.
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- First published on EPC Feed
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- 5 listed below
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- 3 min
The United Arab Emirates announced an intention to add €15 billion to its joint investment initiative with Greece on 22 October, during an official visit by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The Abu Dhabi Media Office said the initiative was launched in May 2022 at €4 billion and that completed transactions under the earlier framework included energy and healthcare. The new announcement is an intention to expand the framework; the source does not identify a project list, disbursement schedule or specific asset allocation for the additional amount. It should not be reported as €15 billion already invested or as a single construction programme.
At the UAE–Greece Strategic Forum in Athens the same day, the two sides also announced 18 memoranda of understanding, agreements and commercial partnerships with a stated combined value of €12.75 billion. The Abu Dhabi Media Office lists digital infrastructure, advanced technology, artificial intelligence, renewable and clean-energy infrastructure, industry, logistics, transport and ports, healthcare, life sciences and food security among the covered sectors. This package is distinct in the source from the expanded joint investment initiative. The available statement does not reconcile the values or explicitly say whether every agreement is wholly outside the initiative, so the two headline amounts should remain separate rather than be added into one total.
The forum’s focus included technology and supply chains as well as conventional investment themes. The media office says participants explored artificial intelligence and emerging technologies, food security, supply-chain resilience and capacity. The Greek Prime Minister’s account of the forum described the earlier €4 billion direct-investment goal as exceeded and referred to memoranda with potential to generate €12 billion in economic benefits. That is not the same wording or scope as the UAE’s €12.75 billion total for 18 signed announcements. The differing descriptions underline that a headline value attached to a package of MoUs, agreements and commercial partnerships is not equivalent to completed investment or a project’s funded cost.
The UAE foreign ministry’s Athens mission describes bilateral economic cooperation as spanning energy, real estate, infrastructure, tourism, aviation and financial services, with newer areas including AI, data centres and digital infrastructure. It reports 2024 net UAE FDI inflows to Greece of approximately €1.89 billion based on Bank of Greece data. This provides historical context for a relationship whose stated scope has broadened, but it is not a measure of the new initiative’s implementation. The WAM interview published that day separately quoted the UAE foreign trade minister describing an additional US$15 billion plan over five to eight years. Because the official media-office release specifies €15 billion for the joint initiative, this article uses that primary announcement and flags the different interview wording rather than silently converting or reconciling the figures.
For engineering and infrastructure firms, the announcements identify potential areas of bilateral cooperation, particularly clean-energy infrastructure, logistics, transport, ports and digital infrastructure. They do not provide named project owners, procurement models, locations, engineering scope, contractors, financing terms or construction dates. The next evidence needed to follow delivery is project-specific documentation from the UAE or Greek institutions and the companies involved. Until those details emerge, the verified development is the enlargement of the bilateral investment framework and the announcement of a separate portfolio of agreements, with the values and status labels kept attached to their respective source statements.
Sources
- On sidelines of Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi’s visit, UAE announces intention to invest additional €15 billion in Greece
- Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Greek Prime Minister attend UAE-Greece Strategic Forum in Athens
- Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ speech at the UAE–Greece Strategic Forum
- Economic Cooperation
- UAE plans additional $15 bn investment in Greece over next 5-8 years: Minister of Foreign Trade
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