UAE, China Strengthen 40-Year Strategic Partnership

UAE President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan met with China's Premier Li Qiang in Abu Dhabi.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is “committed” to building upon 40 years of deep-rooted cooperation with China, President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said.

The UAE ruler said he discussed “joint efforts to further enhance” the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

As the two nations marked 40 years of diplomatic ties, Sheikh Mohammed called for achieving “enduring growth, development, and prosperity for our peoples.”

In his comments, Li told the UAE president that China was “willing to further expand” the scale of bilateral trade with the Persian Gulf nation.

The UAE is the largest export market for China in the Persian Gulf and the volume of bilateral trade reached around $95 billion last year.

Li called for exploring cooperation with the UAE in new energy, electric vehicles, high-end manufacturing, biomedicine, digital economy and other fields and “jointly making a forward-looking layout of emerging industries and future industries, and cultivating more new economic growth points.”

The Chinese premier flew to Abu Dhabi from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at the invitation of the UAE’s Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

The UAE vice-president expressed his hope that Li’s visit “would further strengthen the bilateral relations between the two nations.”

Under Beijing’s trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, China and the UAE have implemented several projects like enhancing Chinese-UAE industrial capabilities while projects like the second phase of the container terminal at Khalifa Port, and the Dubai Photovoltaic Thermal Power Plant are under progress.

China and the UAE are also cooperating in building the world’s first artificial intelligence university in Abu Dhabi.,​​​​​​​Li will conclude his two-nation tour to the Persian Gulf.