New ports agreement with Dubai

The Djibouti government recently signed a 20-year management agreement for the Port Automome Internationale de Djibouti (PAID) with the Dubai Ports Authority (DPA). The widely anticipated move further extends the DPA’s regional position, particularly against the rival container ports of Salaleh in Oman and Aden in Yemen. The DPA, in a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit on 6 September, had also signed management agreements with the Beirut and and Saudi port authorities earlier this year. The DPA’s head and Djibouti’s minister of transport, Osman Idriss Djama, signed the deal during a visit by the president, Ismael Osman Guelleh, to the United Arab Emirates, the report said. The DPA runs Dubai’s Jebel Ali port.