There were a number of investor-state arbitrations involving the UAE in 2017, with claims being commenced both by UAE investors and being commenced against the UAE. Most significantly, a UAE company, in DS Construction successfully commenced an arbitration against Libya under the Agreement on Promotion, Protection and Guarantee of Investments of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (the OIC Agreement), despite resistance to the formation of an arbitral tribunal by the Secretariat of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

While the OIC Agreement has been relatively unused, it provides key protections to UAE investors and investors into the UAE and the DS Construction case has set an important precedent for future investors seeking to invoke these protections.This article provides an update on this and other cases from 2017.