The UAE as an Emerging Actor in the Western Balkans: The Case of Strategic Investment in Serbia

Abstract

In recent years, the United Arab Emirates has increased its engagement on the international stage. One area where it has been increasingly active is the Western Balkans. While its aid programmes were initially directed towards Albania, it has also started to invest in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia. This paper focuses mainly on the last of these: UAE commercial investment in Serbia. As is shown, this activity has been focused on four key sectors: aviation, urban construction, military technology and agriculture, chosen to reflect different strategic imperatives. Whereas investments in agriculture and military technologies are part of a strategy of risk mitigation in respect of food security and military security, the investments in aviation and construction form part of a wider strategic policy of economic diversification in anticipation of the post-oil economy. Meanwhile, viewed from the Serbian perspective, these investments have not been without controversy because of their lack of transparency, allegations of corruption, and lack of public debate over plans to transform downtown Belgrade with a substantial new investment in urban regeneration. Serbia's willingness to host strategic investment from the UAE is also surprising because of UAE support for Kosovo and claims that it has come with questionable political demands. Nevertheless, there is little doubt that UAE investments are a welcome boost to an ailing and crisis ridden economy.

The United Arab Emirates as a global donor: what a decade of foreign aid data transparency reveals

“…Scholars have looked at specific recipient country partnerships (e.g. Bartlett et al 2017;Young 2017) and have explored trends at the GCC level (Carroll and Hynes 2013;Momani and Ennis 2012;Neumayer 2003Neumayer , 2004Shushan and Marcoux 2011;Villanger 2007), the latter often resulting in brief descriptive surveys. These regional surveys, while insightful, do not provide the detailed analysis that is attempted in this paper.…”

“…All three loans (the bulk of the ODA granted by the UAE) were provided by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development. Research by Bartlett et al (2017) explores the relationship that the UAE has developed with Serbia. Although Bartlett et al (2017) focus upon commercial investments, it is clear that the economic interests are influencing the aid decisions.…”

“…Research by Bartlett et al (2017) explores the relationship that the UAE has developed with Serbia. Although Bartlett et al (2017) focus upon commercial investments, it is clear that the economic interests are influencing the aid decisions. In their commercial and investment activities, Emiratis have focused their efforts in four sectors (aviation, construction, military technology, agriculture), which respectively develop areas of mutual interest.…”

“…While there are some papers that focus on country-to-country relationships and aid flows (e.g. Bartlett et al 2017;Young 2017), to our knowledge no papers have utilized the newly available foreign aid data, which is detailed at the project level. For the UAE, such detailed data sets were first made available via the OECD DAC in 2009, and as of this writing in December 2020, were available up until 2018.…”

21st‐century transnational real estate development: What, where, who, how and why?

“…Shannon (2019a, 2019b) observes something similar based on an analysis of a project in Beira, Mozambique, where the active involvement of a Dutch state‐related development bank and development donor are supposed to support Dutch business interests and lead to a longer‐lasting institutional presence. Likewise, in Serbia, the Belgrade Waterfront development project is demonstrated to be part of a broader bilateral business deal between the governments of Serbia and the UAE, including the fact that Abu Dhabi‐based Etihad Airways currently owns 49% of the shares of Air Serbia (Bartlett et al., 2017; Koelemaij, 2020). A very similar strategy was used when the state‐owned business conglomerate Dubai World announced its TREDs in Djibouti, where they first bought a significant stake in Daallo Airlines (Murray, 2016).…”