China-UAE Ties: UAE economy minister: Xi's visit shows importance of bilateral relations

World
Europe

03:18

As President Xi hosts EU officials in Beijing, preparations are also being made for the Chinese leader's upcoming trip to the United Arab Emirates. CCTV reporter Yang Mingjiao sat down with Emirati Minister of Economy, Sultan Al Mansouri, to talk about his expectations for Xi Jinping's visit.

YANG MINGJIAO CCTV REPORTER "As we know that China's president Mr. Xi Jinping is going visit the UAE, so how important is his visit?"

SULTAN BIN SAEED AL MANSOORI MINISTER OF ECONOMY, UAE "It's very important. That is going to happen this week. We will see a lot of achievement also happen in terms of opening up other areas of cooperation, such as political, economic, social and many many other aspects."

Talking about China's Belt and Road Initiative, Mansouri says the UAE enjoys a good geographical location and perfect infrastructure, adding the country will actively participate in the implementation of the proposal.

SULTAN BIN SAEED AL MANSOORI MINISTER OF ECONOMY, UAE "I have been following the very ambitious projects. We will be benefited from that."

Mansouri says that China and the UAE have achieved fruitful results in economic cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative. The United Arab Emirates is one of the founding members of the Asian infrastructure investment bank. And China is one of the top ten source countries in the UAE tourism market. In 2016, more than 870 thousand Chinese came to the country.

SULTAN BIN SAEED AL MANSOORI MINISTER OF ECONOMY, UAE "Trade between the two countries is growing at a very high percentage. 22% of China's trade with all Arabia countries are coming from the UAE."

In terms of his expectations for the future cooperation between the two nations, Mansouri says the United Arab Emirates now is trying to diversify its economic structure and he hopes China could participate more in UAE's economic reform.

SULTAN BIN SAEED AL MANSOORI MINISTER OF ECONOMY, UAE "One of the issues I would like to focus on is the diversity of the economy. That is something we need to learn from the Chinese model."