The United Arab Emirates (UAE) joined the BRICS-led New Development Bank (NDB) as part of its first expansion in terms of membership. Questions regarding the interests and rationale of the UAE in joining the Bank, on the one hand, and the NDB's logic in granting membership to the UAE, on the other, immediately jump out. This article sheds light on the BRICS' cautious move away from exceptionality via the expanded NDB in the context of its membership criteria and approach. It does so by also highlighting the UAE's exceptionality, with a focus on the combination of fiscal resources and strategic geography, in the context of shifting global distributions of power. It finds that the UAE's membership in the NDB dovetails with its memberships in other MDBs, which, in turn, are part of the country's ambition to be seen as a globally influential actor. In turn, the NDB was attracted to the UAE fiscal acumen, credit rating and its carefully cultivated culture of cutting-edge, sustainable, infrastructure and connectivity projects, as well as innovation.
Photo by Lukas Hartmann