2026-07-30
UAE President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan arrived in Belgrade on Thursday, 30 July 2026, opening the Serbian leg of a working tour of Central and Eastern Europe. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic personally welcomed him at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, and the two leaders went straight into talks on economy, investment, trade and renewable energy under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and the UAE-Serbia CEPA. The stop follows a day of substantive negotiations in Slovakia, and it sends a clear signal: the Emirates is systematically building an economic bridge into the Balkans and Central Europe, and businesses based in the UAE are the ones best positioned to use it.
What happened in Belgrade
The visit is a working one, but the composition of the delegation shows how seriously Abu Dhabi treats the Serbian relationship. Sheikh Mohamed was accompanied by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Chairman of the Presidential Court for Special Affairs, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Adviser to the UAE President, alongside a number of ministers and senior officials from the economic bloc of the government.
According to the official readout, the two presidents discussed bilateral cooperation with a focus on the economy, investment, trade and renewable energy, as well as other priority sectors, all within the framework of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement in force between the two countries. Both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to expanding partnerships that support growth in both economies.
Two further moments stood out. Sheikh Mohamed visited the EXPO 2027 Playground, the interactive multimedia centre presenting Serbia’s preparations for EXPO 2027 in Belgrade, the specialised world exhibition the country hosts next year. He also directed that scholarships be provided for Serbian students at UAE universities, with a focus on science, technology and artificial intelligence, a soft-power instrument the UAE has used successfully across its CEPA network.
The Slovakia leg: concrete projects, not protocol
Belgrade is the second stop of the tour. On 29 July Sheikh Mohamed held several hours of talks in Bratislava with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, building on Fico’s own visit to the UAE last year. The agenda covered the economy, development, renewable energy and advanced technologies, plus regional and international issues, above all the situation in the Middle East.
What makes the Slovak leg notable is its specificity. According to the Slovak side, the parties agreed on cooperation around an infrastructure project on the Danube in Bratislava, continued joint projects in the defence industry, a public-private partnership in agricultural irrigation, and the potential entry of a UAE investor into Slovakia’s state-controlled spa sector. This is the standard Emirati playbook: political visits are wrapped around a pipeline of bankable projects, with sovereign capital ready to deploy.
Why Serbia: the CEPA that is already working
The Belgrade visit did not start the relationship from scratch. The UAE-Serbia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement was signed on 5 October 2024 and entered into force on 1 June 2025. It was the first CEPA the UAE concluded with a country outside the World Trade Organisation, and it eliminates tariffs on 96 percent of goods traded between the two markets.
The numbers are still modest but growing fast. Non-oil trade between the UAE and Serbia reached USD 121.4 million in 2024, nearly double the 2021 level, and the UAE Ministry of Economy projects the agreement will add around USD 351 million to UAE GDP by 2032. Serbian exports to the UAE are led by fertilisers, surveying equipment and fruit, while the UAE ships tobacco products, raw aluminium and vehicles the other way. For a market of seven million people at the crossroads of the EU, CEFTA and Eastern Europe, the upside is significant, and Serbia’s EXPO 2027 will only accelerate infrastructure and tourism investment.
The bigger picture: a UAE corridor into Europe
Taken together, the Slovakia and Serbia stops fit a pattern that has defined UAE economic diplomacy since 2021: sign CEPAs, follow up at head-of-state level, and unlock sovereign and private capital into specific sectors, energy, agritech, infrastructure, defence and education. For the Balkans and Central Europe the UAE offers capital and market access; in return, Emirati companies gain a foothold in supply chains feeding the EU market.
For entrepreneurs this matters in a practical way. A company registered in the UAE now sits inside a web of more than two dozen economic partnership agreements, from India and Turkey to Serbia, with preferential tariffs and simplified rules of origin. Structuring trade between Europe, the Gulf, Asia and Africa through a UAE entity is no longer just a tax decision, it is a market-access decision. We covered a similar dynamic from the travel side in our review of Montenegro’s visa-free entry for UAE residents, another sign of how fast the Emirates and the Balkans are converging.
What this means for business with the UAE
- Trade corridors are opening. Tariff-free access on 96 percent of goods under the UAE-Serbia CEPA makes the Emirates a natural re-export and distribution hub between the Gulf, Asia and South-Eastern Europe.
- Sector focus is clear. Renewable energy, infrastructure, agritech, defence and education are the sectors both governments named; suppliers and contractors in these niches should expect tenders and joint ventures.
- Sovereign capital follows the flag. The Slovak talks show how quickly state visits convert into projects; Serbian counterparts will now be looking for UAE partners ahead of EXPO 2027.
- A UAE company is the entry ticket. Preferences under CEPA apply to goods and services flowing through UAE-registered businesses, which makes local incorporation the first practical step.
- Talent channels are widening. Scholarships for Serbian students in UAE universities in science, technology and AI will deepen the talent pipeline between the regions.
How Atlant Capital can help
Atlant Capital sets up and supports companies in the UAE for founders who work across exactly these corridors, from Eastern Europe and the CIS to the Gulf. We handle company setup in mainland and free zones, matching the licence and jurisdiction to your trade flows, and we take clients through corporate bank account opening with UAE banks, the step where cross-border trading structures most often get stuck. If your plans touch the new UAE-Balkans corridor, from re-export under CEPA to bidding for EXPO 2027 related work, we can put the corporate and banking infrastructure in place within weeks.
Conclusion
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed’s arrival in Belgrade on 30 July 2026, straight after hours of project-level talks in Bratislava, is more than diplomatic choreography. It is the follow-through on a CEPA that has been in force for over a year, and a signal that the UAE intends to be a serious investor and trading partner across the Balkans and Central Europe. For businesses in or entering the UAE, the message is simple: the corridors are being built at the highest political level, and the companies positioned inside the Emirates will be the first to use them.
