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Promised UAE investment in Brazil: Will it benefit favelas?

13 4
20.03.2025

The United Arab Emirates says it wants to pump more money into Brazil in the future, with investments focusing on the raw materials sector and infrastructure.

The total amount of investment proposed is quite remarkable: Around 100 billion reais (€16 billion; $17.4 billion) are to go to projects such as the restoration of grazing land, industrial development, the export of agricultural products, infrastructure projects and defense.

The investor is the sovereign wealth fund, Abu Dhabi Investment Group (ADIG).

Particular media attention has been paid to the idea of modernizing the lower-income metropolitan areas in the Baixada Fluminense region at the gates of Rio de Janeiro. Around 3 million people live there in slums, often under precarious conditions and poorly connected to the city center.

The talks between investors, the Brazilian government and the government of the state of Rio de Janeiro were about creating new housing possibilities in the favelas and connecting them better with the city center by means of subways and high-speed trains, Zayed bin Aweidha, the CEO of ADIG, told the O Estado newspaper.

The Emirates' idea has, however, a financial motivation as well: In the long term, the tickets bought by millions of passengers could generate revenue. "It is........

© Deutsche Welle