Sharjah wants to pull in almost $2.5 billion in foreign direct investment this year, a bold 20 per cent jump from 2025. If you are an investor, trader or business owner eyeing the UAE, this is one emirate making a very public bet on its own growth story.
The target was announced by Mohamed Al Musharrakh, chief executive of the Sharjah FDI Office, speaking to Arabian Business at the Sharjah Investment Forum on Wednesday. He said the emirate is chasing AED9.24 billion in FDI inflows in 2026, up from AED7.7 billion last year. That 2025 figure itself was already 8.8 per cent higher than 2024, so Sharjah has been on a steady upward climb for a while now.
Why Sharjah FDI numbers matter for UAE and GCC business
Sharjah has never tried to compete with Dubai or Abu Dhabi on size. Instead, it has built a reputation as a practical, cost-effective base for logistics, manufacturing and trade. The emirate’s latest FDI push focuses on four sectors: logistics and transport, light manufacturing, technology, and hospitality.
That mix tells you a lot about where Sharjah sees its edge. It is not chasing flashy finance deals or mega real estate projects. It wants factories, warehouses, hotels and tech firms that create jobs and keep goods moving through the region. For entrepreneurs and SMEs across the GCC who find Dubai or Abu Dhabi costs too steep, Sharjah’s pitch is simple: come here instead, and plug into the same UAE market.
Al Musharrakh was candid about the environment. He admitted the 20 per cent target comes despite ongoing geopolitical uncertainties in the wider region. That is a notable admission. Many investors watching the Middle East right now are cautious, yet Sharjah is choosing to push harder rather than pull back. For readers following business news across the UAE, this kind of confidence from a mid-sized emirate is worth noting, because it signals how local authorities read the investment climate even when headlines elsewhere suggest hesitation.
The Khor Fakkan port bet: bypassing the Strait of Hormuz
The centrepiece of Sharjah’s pitch is the expansion of Khor Fakkan port. This port sits on the emirate’s east coast, facing the Gulf of Oman rather than the Arabian Gulf. That geography matters a great deal. Ships using Khor Fakkan can bypass the Strait of Hormuz entirely, the narrow waterway that a huge share of the world’s oil and shipping traffic has to squeeze through.
For shipping companies and logistics firms, avoiding a chokepoint like Hormuz is not a small thing. It can mean shorter routes, fewer delays and, crucially, less exposure to any disruption or tension in that stretch of water. Sharjah is clearly leaning on this natural advantage to attract trade and transport investment at a time when supply chain resilience is a priority for businesses worldwide.
Alongside the port expansion, Sharjah is also growing capacity at its international airport. On top of that, the emirate is tying itself into Etihad Rail’s national network, the UAE’s freight and passenger rail system connecting emirates together. Put the three together, port, airport and rail, and Sharjah is essentially building a triple-threat logistics hub designed to move goods in and out of the UAE efficiently, no matter which route makes sense for a given shipment.
This kind of infrastructure build-out is exactly what tends to draw in light manufacturing and logistics investors. If you can get raw materials in and finished goods out quickly, through multiple transport options, your operating costs drop. That is the value proposition Sharjah appears to be selling to global investors right now.
What happens next will depend on whether global trade conditions cooperate. Sharjah has set itself a clear, public number to hit by the end of 2026, and its growth plan leans heavily on infrastructure that is still being expanded. Investors and businesses watching the UAE’s smaller emirates for opportunity will want to see whether this FDI target gets hit, and whether the Khor Fakkan expansion delivers the trade advantage Sharjah is counting on, as reported by Arabian Business.
