The state visit of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, to China from Sunday comes at a time when the trade and economic relations between the two countries are booming.

China is the UAE’s second largest trading partners, with almost $60 billion (Dh220) bilateral trade in 2017. The UAE and China are keen to expand economic collaboration with trade set to hit $70 billion in 2020.

Since the 2015 state visit of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed to China, the high-level bilateral interactions have become more frequent.

China signed a number of MoUs with the UAE during the visit of President Xi Jinping to the UAE last year.

The state visit of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to China in April 2019 witnessed announcements of two mega projects worth a total of $3.4 billion investments.

The first one was a megaproject to build a ‘traders market’ that would be built along Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road opposite to Expo Dubai, over an initial area of 20 million square feet, which could go up to 60 million square feet.

The Chinese company Yiwu will invest $2.4 billion in the project that includes large logistics warehouses and wholesale retail outlets, which will strengthen Jebel Ali Free Zone’s role in supporting regional and global trade movement.

SOURCE : GULFNEWS