The UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has signed aviation agreements with the Zimbabwean and Niger governments, designed to increase the number of flights operating between the countries.

The agreements include two memorandums of understandings (MoUs), which allow full flexibility of routes, capacity, the frequency of flights and the types of aircraft used. The agreements also permit unrestricted non-scheduled or charter operations between Zimbabwe, Niger and the UAE. In addition, two air transport agreements were signed.

Investor interest from the UAE in Africa is growing, and these accords are set to boost trade and investment flows between the two regions, according the Omar bin Ghaleb, deputy director-general of GCAA, who signed the MoUs.GCAA signed a similar agreement with the Africa’s Cape Verde in June.

The UAE now has air service agreements with more than 150 countries, of which 116 are open skies or fully liberalised pacts.