DUBAI – President Xi Jinping arrived in Abu Dhabi on Thursday for athree-day visit, after the announcement of oil and trade deals betweenChina and the UAE.
Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed said he was “delighted” to welcomeXi, posting photos on Twitter of the Chinese president receiving flowers onlanding in the emirate.
“This is a historic visit and represents a new stage of cooperation in allfields, which will bring growth, development and prosperity to the peopleof our nations,” said the crown prince of the UAE capital.
Abu Dhabi is the first stop on Xi s tour, which also includes Senegal,Rwanda and South Africa.
The Chinese president s arrival followed the Gulf state earlier on Thursdaypublishing details of new deals clinched with Beijing.
State-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. said it had awarded two contractsworth $1.6 billion (1.4 billion euros) to BGP Inc., a subsidiary of ChinaNational Petroleum Co., for a seismic survey in the emirate.
The survey is to search for oil and gas in onshore and offshore sitescovering an area of 53,000 square kilometres (20,463 square miles), thestatement said.
State-run CNPC already has two concession rights contracts with ADNOC wortharound $3 billion.
The UAE s state-owned DP World also announced an agreement by the twocountries to build a new trade zone in Dubai.
The deal between the global port operator and the Zhejiang ChinaCommodities City Group will see a “traders market” built at Dubai s JebelAli free zone.
The project is part of China s trillion-dollar “One Belt, One Road”infrastructure initiative, an ambitious plan to revive the ancient SilkRoad trading routes with a global network of ports, roads and railways.
The new facility will cover three square kilometres at the Jebel Ali site,which is the Middle East s largest trade zone, DP World said in a statement.
The market will host a vast range of goods from food and cosmetics tobuilding materials and technology.
DP World, which operates in 40 countries, did not announce the value of thedeal or provide a timeframe for its construction.
China is the United Arab Emirates top trading partner, with non-oil tradein 2017 rising 15 percent year-on-year to over $53.3 billion — more than90 percent of it Chinese exports to the UAE, according to Abu Dhabi sfinance ministry.
The UAE is also one of the top 15 crude suppliers to China, exporting some$4 billion worth of oil to Beijing last year. Ninety-six percent of thecountry s oil reserves are located in Abu Dhabi.
In a further sign of strengthening ties between the two countries,Dubai-based real estate developer Emaar Properties on Wednesday announcedplans to build the Middle East s largest Chinatown in the UAE. – APP/AFP