The Djibouti Palace Kempinski, managed by Europe’s oldest luxury hotel group Kempinski Hotels, has been designed using a unique fusion of Swahili and Arabic architectural themes. It has 177 rooms and suites, a state-of-the-art conference centre, a grand ballroom for up to 1,100 guests, meeting rooms and presentation facilities, and the latest communications infrastructure.

It is being used to host a series of meetings for the COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) Summit attended by leading politicians and Heads of State from around the world. Kempinski has hired and trained 150 local Djiboutian employees and has brought in a task force of over 100 experts from around the world to service the COMESA delegates.

When all phases of the hotel are complete, the Djibouti Palace Kempinski will have more than 400 rooms and will feature luxury resort facilities including a beach club and retail arcade, fitness and entertainment centres, a state-of-the-art spa and a safari sports bar. There will be four a la carte restaurants, including a pan-African restaurant - the first of its kind in the world.

Further phases of the wider development will see a range of residential villas and apartments, commercial offices and retail units.

Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Nakheel Executive Chairman, said: “The Emirate of Dubai and the Republic of Djibouti have built a special relationship since we started working together on Djibouti’s port project in 1998. I am delighted that, together with Kempinski, Nakheel Hotels and Resorts is now bringing the first five-star hotel to the country.”

Over the last nine months, hundreds of containers were shipped in to the site in an enormous logistics effort, through the port developed originally by Nakheel Hotels & Resorts’ sister company, DP World. Ninety-seven per cent of all the construction materials and hotel furnishings were imported in this way – including a last-minute shipment of luxury furnishings that was flown from Dubai by a 747 cargo plane from the Emiri flight.

Nakheel Hotels & Resorts is also working on other developments in Djibouti, including a mountain-top spa and island resorts.