Bridging Horizons: Advancing Trade, SUSTAINability, and Stability in EU-UAE Relations

ongoing

The EU’s economic strategy increasingly relies on deepening trade and investment partnerships. In this regard, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) serves as the EU’s largest export destination and investment hub in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, making it a strategic partner in key policy areas. Despite the recent growing cooperation between the EU and UAE, there remains a lack of systematic academic analysis of their evolving partnership. This Chair proposes to conduct the first in-depth study of EU-UAE trade and investment relations, analyzing their contribution to trade, investment, climate change, energy transition, new technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) and sustainable economic development. By embedding academic expertise into this bilateral relationship, the Chair will provide technical and scientific insights that can inform both European and Emirati policymakers and help them lay stronger foundations for the future. The research main hypothesis posits that strengthening EU-UAE trade and investment relations can serve as a model for aligning economic growth with sustainability goals, while also contributing to regional stability through environmental peacebuilding. The Chair’s research will be structured around two key axes. The first axis evaluates the effectiveness of legal and economic frameworks underpinning EU-UAE cooperation. The second axis explores how EU-UAE diplomatic engagements contribute to regional stability and climate resilience. The project will produce multiple high-impact outputs, including several international conferences, 1011 hours of teaching/lectures per year and the creation of an open-source interdisciplinary data bank on EU-UAE relations. The Chair will also create a Podcast entitled “Bridging Sustainability” and an annual Spring School. The Chair will also publish peer-reviewed journal articles and a book consolidating key research insights.