UAE-China trade volume reaches $11.2 billion in 1st quarter of 2019

Bilateral trade between China and the UAE reached $11.2 billion in the first quarter of 2019, a 16.21 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2018, said a top Chinese diplomat.

“China-UAE trade is expected to maintain the momentum of rapid growth throughout 2019 and beyond,” Ni Jian, the Chinese Ambassador to the UAE, told the Emirates News Agency (WAM), in an exclusive interview.

He also said that in the first five months of 2019, the bilateral trade amounted to $19 billion, up by 11.37 per cent, compared to the same period last year, he said.

In 2018, China’s exports to the UAE grew by 3.2 per cent to $29.66 billion and China’s imports from the UAE went up by 32.8 per cent to $16.26 billion, he said, pointing out at the same time that “as China and the UAE use different methods for bilateral trade, the figures from both sides may differ.” However, he added, “China and the UAE have made solid steps in our cooperation under the ‘Belt and Road’ framework and yielded remarkable achievements. Our cooperation in commodities trade is optimising, with the UAE maintaining its status as China’s second largest trading partner and top export market in the Middle East and North Africa region.” China’s investments over the years in the UAE reached $9.1 billion in 2017. Chinese Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, in the UAE was worth $620 million in 2017 alone, the ambassador said.

The $410 billion China-UAE Joint Investment Fund is operating smoothly, which highlights the practical cooperation between both countries, he said.

“In general, Chinese companies in the UAE have been growing by leaps and bounds, especially at a time when our bilateral relations are thriving and the UAE has become an important partner in the ‘Belt and Road’ cooperation,” he said.

Chinese engineering contracting companies signed new project contracts worth $7.64 billion in the UAE in 2018, up by 53 per cent compared to the previous year, the envoy revealed.

Those companies made revenues to the tune of US$3.61 billion in 2018, a 44.8 per cent increase compared to 2017, he said.

There are between 4,000 to 6,000 Chinese companies operating in the UAE, mostly based in Dubai, he said.

According to Dubai Department of Economic Development, 618 new business licences were issued to Chinese companies in 2018, a year-on-year increase of 22.8 per cent, the ambassador pointed out.

By the end of 2018, there were altogether 5,977 effective business licences for Chinese companies registered in Dubai. About 4,811 of them were limited liability companies, and 4,628 were in the commercial and trade sector, he explained.

“Our financial cooperation is deepening. Our central banks (China and UAE) signed local currency swap agreements,” he said, pointing out the establishment of RMB (Chinese yuan) Clearing Centre and branches of all Big-Four Chinese state-owned banks in the UAE.

Many large Chinese corporations have also stepped up their interest and participation in the UAE market.

Large energy firms such as China National Offshore Oil Corporation, CNOOC, Zhenhua Oil and a state-owned investment company, CITIC, have all set up offices in Abu Dhabi since 2018, while China Machinery Engineering Corporation, CMEC, opened an office in Dubai, the envoy said.

With the inception of more new projects in the UAE, China Railway Construction Corporation, CRCC, China Railway Construction Engineering Group, CRCEG, Power China and China Energy Engineering Corporation, CEEC, are also dispatching more outstanding employees to the UAE market, he said. China-UAE cooperation in the energy sector is expanding across the value chain - from upstream exploration to downstream refinery, and from stake holding to service-contracting - Chinese and Emirati energy companies are joining hands to forge a strategic partnership, the diplomat added.

Chinese companies are actively working in railways, airports, seaports, roads, telecommunications and other infrastructure developments in the UAE, making their contributions to regional connectivity, the ambassador concluded.

DMCC - the world’s flagship Free Zone and Government of Dubai Authority on commodities trade and enterprise - has signed two new strategic partnership agreements recently with Chinese authorities during visits to the cities of Hangzhou and Qingdao as part of its sixth Made for Trade Live roadshow of 2019.

DMCC signed a Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with the Hangzhou China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), and the Department of Commerce of Shandong Province in Qingdao. The agreements commit the organisations to work together to support, strengthen and boost bilateral trade between the UAE and China, and attract foreign direct investment (FDI) to Dubai. Over 4,000 Chinese companies are already based in the UAE and 423 in DMCC, making DMCC home to around 10% of the Chinese companies in the UAE.

Meanwhile, the UAE Pavilion has been selected among the five best out of 110 pavilions at  the “International Horticultural Exhibition 2019’’ in Beijing, China, according to organisers.

With more than 110 countries and international organisations present, the Expo 2019 Beijing, which was launched on 29th April and will run until 7th October, bears the theme “Live Green, Live Better”. The international horticultural event is dedicated to providing an open platform for communication and for sharing experiences and breakthroughs in the agricultural sector, under that theme.

Managed and supervised by the NMC, the pavilion bears the theme “Greening the Desert”, and is a reflection of the strategic vision of the founding father, the late Sheikh Zayed.

Ahmed Al Hammadi, Director of the pavilion, said the UAE pavilion has been witnessing heavy footprints of about 10,000 visitors daily during working hours, rising to 17,000 on weekends.

The UAE participation at the expo, which is the last one overseas before the launch of Expo 2020 Dubai, underscores the strong UAE-China strategic partnership which was based on legacies of mutual respect and confidence and boosted by programmes of actions in economic, commercial, political, ecological and scientific spheres.

Covering an area of 1,850 square metres, 80 per cent of which is a garden, the pavilion depicts the development of the agricultural sector in the UAE, and sheds light on the legacy of Sheikh Zayed, and his efforts towards “Greening the Desert”. The display showcases Sheikh Zayed’s agricultural achievements, the agricultural innovations the UAE has embraced, and the country’s achievements in the field.

China will have one of the largest national pavilions at Dubai 2020 Expo. Under the theme ‘‘Building a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind - Innovation and Opportunity’’, the pavilion serves the UAE-China strategic partnership and their commitment to laying the foundations of political development guided by tolerance and stability to build a bright future for mankind.

WAM