The report examines the deepening of economic and strategic relations between Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates, highlighted by the signing of nine bilateral agreements worth $5 billion. These include major investments in port infrastructure at Kuryk and Aktau, expansion of agri-food trade, and significant financial integration through the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC).
The recent meeting between representatives of Turkmenistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) underscored the positive trajectory of their bilateral relations, encompassing political, trade-economic, and cultural-humanitarian domains.
Dagestan State Pedagogical University (DSPU) and Mohammed bin Zayed University of Humanities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) recently entered into a cooperative agreement, primarily focusing on student and teacher exchanges and collaborations in education. This development underscores Abu Dhabi’s foreign policy interests in the North Caucasus, especially given the Emirati embassy’s cultural initiatives in Dagestan.
Putin’s visit to Abu Dhabi and Riyadh confirmed Russia’s strategy in the Arab-Muslim world aimed at enhancing economic partnership in energy, logistics, and trade and attracting Gulf monarchies’ investors in Russian infrastructural projects.
In October 2022, during SpecialEurasia’s official visit to Yerevan, we discussed with the representatives of the Armenian National Interest Fund (ANIF) the country’s investment opportunities and economic situation. After a year of monitoring the Armenian economic performance and investment market, in this report, we would like to stress ANIF’s role in promoting FDIs connected to the Armenian economic market and establishing a linking with United Arab Emirates.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) member countries discussed the establishment of a free trade zone, which might become a significant step in strengthening Emirati financial and economic presence in the Eurasian geopolitical chessboard and support Russian financial strategy to contrast Western sanctions’ consequences.
Zhaparov’s official visit to Abu Dhabi confirms Kyrgyzstan’s interest in developing an economic partnership with the United Arab Emirates and the Emirati desire to enhance its presence and influence in the Central Asian republic.
Serdar Berdimuhamedov’s recent visit to the United Arab Emirates confirms Turkmenistan’s interest in expanding ties with the Gulf monarchies and Abu Dhabi’s desire to increase its presence in Central Asia.
The Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in the Russian Federation organised an event in the city of Makhachkala to promote the national culture and create a link with Dagestan, a strategic North Caucasian republic located on the Caspian Sea.
Recent events in the Gulf underlined that while Saudi Arabia is focusing on the al-Mahrah province on the border with Oman to ease its access to the Indian Ocean, the UAE is getting hold of the essential Yemenite islands, with the most relevant being Socotra.
The Syrian and UAE delegations meeting underlined Dubai’s diplomatic efforts to play a decisive role in the Middle Eastern geopolitics and international arena.
The United Arab Emirates expressed their interests in increasing investments and trade with Iran whose geographical position in the Middle East and connections with the Caucasus and Central Asia plays a strategic role in international trade and relations.
Brexit was a capital event in recent European history and among many consequences, helped to bring up an identity as a political issue. Brexit impacted both negatively and positively in terms of European identity.
The United Arab Emirates are among the Gulf countries the most active in Central Asia, as demonstrated by the participation of an Emirati business delegation at the International Business Forum Dushanbe-Invest 2021. Abu Dabhi’s investments in Tajikistan highlight Emirati strategy in the country and, generally speaking, in Central Asia to exploit economic opportunities and investment projects to make the UAE a leading foreign actor in the region.
The recent intergovernmental agreement on implementing joint projects between the United Arab Emirates and Kazakhstan underlined the Emirati strategic interests in the Central Asian market characterised since Abu Dhabi has conspicuously invested in regional infrastructural projects.
The United Arab Emirates are interested in investing in the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan and financing infrastructural, economic, energy, and social projects to become a key actor in a country affected by a massive debt with China.
Iran and the United Arab Emirates will expand their commercial trade, although Tehran’s foreign policy is a source of permanent concern to Abu Dhabi and the Gulf states.
The recent visit of a Turkmen delegation in Abu Dhabi emphasised the rising role that the United Arab Emirates want to play in Central Asia, focusing their efforts on investment projects and diplomatic and trade cooperation.