UAE is the top Arab investor in China
An extensive drive by the UAE to push into lucrative Asian markets has catapulted the country to number one Arab investor in China, controlling more than 650 projects, official figures showed on Sunday.
China also has around 3,000 ventures in the UAE while projects owned jointly by the two countries have peaked at nearly $12 billion, showed the figures by the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED).
“The UAE is now the largest Arab investor in China as it owns more than 650 investment projects in that country,” said Hamad Abdullah Al Mas, Executive Director of the International Economic Relations at ADDED.
Mas was commenting on Abu Dhabi’s participation in the International Canton Fair, the largest industrial show in China and the world’s second largest.
ADDED is representing six key UAE industrial enterprises in the fair, which is being held in the southern Chinese town of Guangzhou on the Pearl River, about 120km northwest of Hong Kong.
He said ADDED had won a prize as the best “promotional” exhibitor among nearly 400 companies taking part in that fair.
His figures showed trade between the UAE had sharply grown over the past few years as a result of strong economic and political links and continuous promotion campaigns by the two countries to push into their respective markets.
Bilateral trade between Abu Dhabi and China rocketed by nearly 160 per cent to a record high Dh77bn in 2009 compared with five years ago, he said.
Abu Dhabi’s imports from China were valued at about Dh2.95bn last year while its non-oil exports and re-exports to the southeast Asian giant stood at around Dh550.9 million and Dh14.4m, respectively, he added.
“All indicators show that Abu Dhabi is on the verge of a boom in its non-oil exports in the coming years due to the large increase in the number of specialised industrial zones and improvement of investment laws,” he said.
Mas said Abu Dhabi’s participation in Canton Fair is designed to promote its products in China and other fast growing markets in that region.