China-UAE ties have always been strong, but crisis tests a relationship. It was in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic that this relationship showed its mettle. When cross-border travel shut down in 2020 to buy time for vaccine development, China’s Zero COVID policy eradicated the original COVID strain out of China. However, Chinese pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm needed somewhere to conduct trials for their vaccines. The UAE firm G42 teamed up with Sinopharm to begin vaccine trials in the UAE. UAE Ambassador to China Ali Obaid Al Dhaheri says that this cooperation between G42 and Sinopharm is a model of cooperation between international companies.

Al Dhaheri says, “The UAE was the first country to approach a Chinese vaccine, Sinopharm. To explore this opportunity, we started on a trial basis, before rolling it out to the public. The production facility can produce 200 million doses per year. The vaccine is not for the UAE, not for China, but for the rest of the world.”

Al Dhaheri says the UAE is keen to use its close ties to neighboring countries to deliver the China-UAE produced vaccines and other healthcare products to third countries. Al Dhaheri says that the UAE firm G42 has already been delivering vaccines to Egypt, Morocco and Bahrain. While G42 will also develop cloud computing and AI to help Serbia’s healthcare sector.

The UAE’s drive in the service and healthcare sector is in line with the UAE’s Operation 300 Billion and the 2071 Strategy, which aim to diversify the UAE economy away from fossil-fuel export dependence to a knowledge-based economy. Al Dhaheri is most proud of how the UAE’s non-oil trade exceeded 1 trillion dirham ($288 billion) for the first time in its history this year. The UAE is focused on building an economy through the industrial and technological sectors. Already the UAE has been ranked by the Global Innovation Index as the most innovative economy in the Middle East and North Africa region. This all makes the UAE a valued partner for China to engage the region.

China and the UAE share the same vision for harnessing science and technology for economic development and social progress. Their cooperation at the start of the pandemic shows this relationship has a solid foundation.