(MENAFN- Khaleej Times)

An investment forum for Chad has yielded deals that could exceed $6.2 billion, a United Arab Emirates minister said on Monday, adding that a trade agreement was just weeks away.

About 40 deals were signed with entities and companies from the central African country which borders war-ravaged Sudan, the minister said in Abu Dhabi.

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"We see tremendous development opportunities to ensure growth and stability in the country," UAE Foreign Trade Minister Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi told reporters at the two-day UAE-Chad Trade and Investment Forum.

"Is Chad a strategic country for us? Of course."

Chad officials used the forum in the UAE capital to launch a national development plan targeting $30 billion in investment.

This month, the United Nations warned of an influx of Sudanese refugees to Chad after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took the city of El-Fasher, reportedly committing a series of atrocities.

The UAE invested more than $110 billion in Africa between 2019-2023, making it the world's biggest backer of new projects there, the Ministry of Economy and Tourism said last month.

A Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement trade deal with Chad could be signed by the end of the year, Zeyoudi said. Non-oil trade rose 32 percent to $1.9 billion last year, he added.

The new investment deals for Chad will be worth more than $6.2 billion if they are fully implemented, the minister said.

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