Abu Dhabi: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President, Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, is going on a historic trip to the People's Republic China, the first top official to visit since the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan's visit in 1990.
An official delegation that includes about 150 businessmen will accompany Shaikh Mohammad in his visit, marking the importance of the economic and commercial aspects of the visit.
"This visit will give a strong push to the relations between the UAE and China, in light of the growing and accelerating economic and trade relations between them," Gao Yusheng, the Chinese ambassador to the UAE, told Gulf News.
"Bilateral trade has grown by an impressive annual average of 40 per cent from $4 billion in 2003 to $20 billion in 2007, reflecting the mutual benefits that can be achieved through more cooperation," he added.
China has been growing at an annual average rate of more than 10 per cent for more than 30 years, making the country the fastest growing in East Asia, and the UAE's economic growth in the past five years far exceeds that of all its neighbours.
"China exported $17 billion worth of goods to the UAE in 2007, ranking the country as our most important trading partner in the region," he said.
"Whereas 70 per cent of these exports were re-exported to countries in the GCC, Africa, and even Europe, which reveals the growing importance of the UAE as the region's trading hub," the ambassador said.
There are about 200,000 Chinese citizens living and working in the UAE, of whom only about 30,000 are labourers. The majority are businessmen and executives, according to the embassy.
"The most important event during the visit is a businessmen's forum which will serve as a platform for the two parties to communicate and explore the business opportunities in both countries, with companies like Dubai World, Mubadala and IPIC participating," the ambassador said.
Nevertheless, the high profile visit is also targeting all aspects of the bilateral relations, and several agreements and memorandums of understanding are expected to be signed.
"These agreements and MoUs include judicial cooperation, healthcare, as well as the cooperation between the UAE Ministry of Interior and the Chinese customs authority to fight the smuggling and illicit trade of narcotics by land and air.
"Other fields include health quarantine measures as well as technological and scientific cooperation in the defence industry," Yusheng said.
The ongoing talks between China and the Gulf Co-operation Council countries on a free trade agreement have been facing some difficulties, especially in relation to petrochemical related exports from the UAE, and the effect on some of the major Chinese corporations.
"With the new government, there is now more political pressure, that we expect a tangible outcome for these negotiations in 2008, as the interests of other corporations in China, as well as the interests of the GCC countries will now hold sway, where we believe that such an agreement should be beneficial for the two parties," he said.
