Saudi Arabia targets East African ports and minerals with $15.6B investment

Saudi Arabia is directing $15.6 billion in investment toward East Africa, targeting ports, agriculture and critical minerals through its sovereign Public Investment Fund, as Gulf states intensify competition for influence and resources across the Horn of Africa and the wider East African coast.

A Saudi delegation recently traveled to Kenya's Lamu Port to examine opportunities tied to the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) corridor, a multibillion-dollar infrastructure project designed to link landlocked South Sudan and Ethiopia to global shipping lanes via a new deep-water port on Kenya's coast. LAPSSET has struggled for years to attract the financing needed to complete its roads, railways and pipeline components, and Saudi interest signals a potential capital infusion for a corridor that Nairobi has promoted as a rival route to the congested Port of Mombasa.

The PIF-backed push extends beyond logistics. Saudi Arabia is also pursuing agricultural land and food-security investments in East Africa, part of a broader strategy to secure supply chains for a kingdom that imports the vast majority of its food, alongside access to critical minerals used in batteries, electronics and renewable-energy technology.

The investment drive places Riyadh alongside the UAE, Qatar, Turkey and China as competing external powers with stakes in East African ports and infrastructure. The UAE's DP World already operates port concessions in the region, while Qatar has expanded its own diplomatic and investment footprint in the Horn of Africa in recent years. For Gulf states, control of East African ports carries direct strategic weight given their proximity to the Bab el-Mandeb strait and Red Sea shipping lanes that link the Gulf to European and Asian markets.