The UAE Germany investment pledge reached €40 billion as Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited Berlin from 9 to 11 September 2026 for a state visit that produced a sweeping package of economic, defence and cultural agreements with Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The commitment covers advanced digital infrastructure, new data centres and a range of corporate deals, and marks the UAE president’s first visit to Germany as head of state.
What the €40bn UAE Germany investment pledge covers
The headline figure includes investment in digital infrastructure, with new data centres carrying a combined capacity of approximately 1GW. Germany said it would work to create a favourable environment for those plans to be realised. According to CNBC, around €10 billion of the total is earmarked specifically for Bavaria, a hub for Germany’s industrial and technology sectors.
Beyond the infrastructure component, German and Emirati companies signed 29 separate business-to-business memoranda of understanding and agreements during the visit, with a combined value of over €9.35 billion, according to Yahoo Finance. The two governments also identified further planned corporate investments and partnerships involving Covestro, RWE, ADNOC and Masdar, building on XRG’s existing approximately €15 billion investment in Covestro.
Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Industry Minister, set out the rationale plainly. ‘The UAE invests for the long term and builds partnerships that endure,’ he said. His comments reflect a broader Emirati posture of anchoring major capital commitments in long-duration industrial and infrastructure relationships rather than shorter-cycle financial plays.
Trade ties and the investment council
The two leaders signed a joint declaration of intent to establish the German-UAE Investment Council, designed to advance investment flows and increase engagement between public and private sectors in both countries. The council does not yet exist in formal terms: the agreement is a statement of intent, with the detail of its structure and governance still to be worked out.
The trade relationship underpinning the deal is already substantial. Bilateral non-oil trade between the two countries reached $15.5 billion in 2025, more than 14% higher than in 2024, while cumulative investment flows between 2021 and 2025 exceeded $10 billion. The UAE is Germany’s largest trading partner in the Gulf, according to Yahoo Finance. Both governments said they support progress towards a comprehensive UAE-EU Free Trade Agreement, which remains under negotiation.
The scale of the visit’s output reflects the depth of the existing commercial relationship. Masdar was among the Emirati entities identified for further partnership discussions alongside ADNOC, RWE and Covestro, though the specific terms of those conversations were not set out in the joint declaration.
Defence, security and data agreements
The economic agreements sat alongside a letter of intent on defence cooperation and a separate letter of intent on police and security cooperation. The two sides also signed a joint declaration of intent on data hosting through the creation of what they called ‘Data Embassies’, a framework intended to govern the cross-border hosting of sensitive government data.
Further agreements addressed legal assistance in criminal matters and smoother airport entry for UAE citizens via Germany’s EasyPASS system. A double taxation treaty between the two countries remains under negotiation and was not concluded during the visit.
\p>Cultural ties also featured. The joint declaration noted that both leaders agreed to strengthen people-to-people connections, ‘including through collaboration in culture, literature, heritage and creative industries.’ A comprehensive memorandum of understanding on enhancing cultural cooperation was signed as part of the package.
The investment council, once formally established, will be the principal mechanism for translating the €40bn UAE Germany investment pledge into bankable projects. Germany has committed to creating a favourable regulatory environment; the pace at which that framework takes shape will determine how quickly the capital actually moves.
