But not everyone involved with international investment in Serbia is so enthusiastic.

Andrew Peirson was the managing director of global real estate giant CBRE in Southeast Europe, and now holds the same role at iO Partners, which focuses entirely on the region.

He admits that the shattered state of the Defence Ministry complex is “not good for the city’s image”, and that the deal to develop the site is “probably good news, because it shows the country can attract big investments”.

But he has serious qualms about how the government struck the deal with Affinity Global. Mr Peirson says that there was no open tendering process that would have allowed other firms to bid for the site.

“With state-owned land, you should be able to prove you’re getting market value for the site. The way you usually do that is to run a proper tender process,” says Mr Peirson.

“If it had been in UK, Germany, Hungary or even Romania or Bulgaria, there would have been a process; it would have gone through the open market. Developers that were looking to enter Serbia, or already active, would have been given the chance to buy it themselves.”

Back in 2023 Vucic said he met with Kushner and had an “excellent conversation”, external with Jared Kushner regarding the “potential for large and long-term investments.”

And Donald Trump Jr has since made follow up visits to Belgrade after Affinity Global announced that a Trump International Hotel would form part of the development. The role of Trump Jr and the family business is thought to be limited to the hotel.

Questions have been raised about the Trumps making commercial deals while Donald Trump is in the White House but his press secretary has rejected any suggestion he is profiting from the presidency.

Mr Peirson is concerned that the nature of the Ministry of Defence building deal may irk businesses which have already committed to Serbia.

“If I’m an investor already putting tens or hundreds of millions into the country, I would feel sad that I hadn’t been given the chance,” he says.

Both Affinity Global and the Serbian government did not respond to requests for comments about how the deal over the site was agreed, and whether or not there was an open tendering process.