Chinese President Xi Jingping's state visit to the UAE will be historic and will see a flurry of bilateral activity, the country's envoy said on Friday.
This is the first state visit by a Chinese president to the UAE in 29 years. Chinese ambassador Ni Jian said President Xi shares 'very special and close links' with His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
"They regard each other as good friends," he said.
There will be MoUs signed in different sectors, including politics, culture and economic cooperation. Leaders of both the countries will issue a joint statement and there will be deep discussion on many areas, including anti-terrorism.
"We share similar ideas on anti-terrorism. In future, we should have stronger cooperation," the ambassador said and hoped for a peaceful solution to the Yemen crisis.
He noted that the two countries share great cooperation in fields of politics, economy, culture, education and sports.
Trade volume to go up
The UAE is the second biggest trade and economic partner of China in the Middle East region.
"The trade volume between the two countries last year came to $41 billion. We have different investments in different fields," the ambassador said, adding that the trade volume will be bigger in 2018.
He said the level of engagement in energy sector also is set to rise in the future.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) is already looking to expand its relationship with China's major energy firms. In March, Adnoc had awarded PetroChina stakes in two offshore concession areas.
"In the energy area, the two countries share strong cooperation. For the last few years, we have different big projects of cooperation in onshore and offshore. Every year, we import oil and oil products from the UAE and the cooperation will be stronger in future."
Focus on cultural exchanges
"We have cultural delegations including performance groups and orchestras to conduct mutual visits. Also, education cooperation has developed very fast and now, we have more Chinese students coming to the UAE for education. The UAE has increasing number of students going to China."
He highlighted the 'very promising, far-sighted suggestion' made by the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince to encourage 100 UAE schools to teach Chinese language. "Till now, there are 11 schools teaching Chinese."
Talking about the cooperation in sports, Jian said in winter Chinese football teams will train in the UAE. He added that there will a good-level of engagement during the AFC Asia Cup 2019 to be held in the UAE.
The ambassador also said the number of Chinese tourists to the UAE is increasing every year.
"We had 600,000 tourists to the UAE in 2016. Over a million tourists visited the UAE last year."
The ambassador, however, is unsure about the number of Chinese residents in the UAE.
Biggest pavilion at Expo
He noted that Expo 2020 in Dubai will be a platform for China to showcase its latest technology and it will do so by having the biggest pavilion.
"When we talk about transportation, the UAE is in the middle of the world. The UAE is very developed in different areas of aviation and ports. Of course, we should have closer links in the cooperation of 'One Belt, One Road'. The Expo 2020 is an important platform for the two countries to show development in different areas. We will build a super-size pavilion at Expo 2020 in Dubai. It will be the biggest pavilion. This is win-win cooperation."
Two leaders, same ideas
"Leaders of the two countries share the same idea. While Xi Jinping initiated 'One Belt, One Road', the Crown Prince initiated restoring the Old Silk Road," the ambassador said.
He added that both the leaders harbour dream to transform their country as the best in the world. "There are so many similarities. This has encouraged the political relations between the two countries," Jian said.
SOURCE : KHALEEJTIMES