DUBAI: Guinea is on track to raise around $4 billion in the United Arab Emirates this week to finance development projects in the West African state, a government minister said.

Officials from the ruling junta, which seized power in 2021, are meeting with development funds and investors in Dubai to finance infrastructure, healthcare and education projects.

"We are in a good way to raise what we expect," Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Rose Pola Pricemou told Reuters late on Thursday after meeting with funds and investors.

Asked about the level, she confirmed around $4 billion was expected and said Gulf state funds were among those who had promised funding.

The meetings, which started on Thursday, conclude on Friday.

Guinea is a major bauxite producer, a raw material that is used to make aluminum. UAE state-owned Emirates Global Aluminium is a major investor in the West African state.

Guinea's military government has said it will return power to a democratically elected government in a multi-year process. Critics, however, are frustrated at the pace of the transition and have said the junta is cracking down on freedoms.

Pricemou said officials told investors and funds in Dubai the junta was in transition and focused on tackling corruption and inequality and building strong political institutions.

"We want to have peace in Guinea," she said. (Reporting by Alexander Cornwell; editing by Barbara Lewis)