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Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, leader of the emirate of Dubai, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan (LR) before a reception marking the Belt and Road forum at National Museum of China April 26, 2019 in Beijing.
Valery Sharifulin | TASS | Getty Images
A decision by China and the United Arab Emirates to expand their trade and investment ties through new agreements worth $ 3.4 billion ". is not a surprise, "according to World Economic Forum President Børge Brende.
"China is now the second largest economy in the world and Asia now accounts for 50% of global GDP," Brende said Sunday at "Capital Connection". "Many countries like the UAE are seeing huge market opportunities in China."
The United Arab Emirates and China signed $ 3.4 billion worth of new deals this weekend as part of China's Belt and Roads initiative – a new project. large-scale infrastructure involving the construction of roads, railways and shipping lines between China and more than 60 countries in East and North Africa East Asia. The latest deal is expected to increase bilateral trade by $ 53 billion next year to $ 70 billion.
United Arab Emirates Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum participated in the Beijing Belt and Road Forum weekend where he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping to sign the agreements.
China is already the UAE's second largest trading partner, and the UAE is a major gateway for Chinese exports to the Middle East.
We live in a world very different from what we lived ten years ago. It is a multipolar and multi-conceptual world.
Under the new agreements, the two countries have launched several new investments, including the development of a 60 million square foot station on the new Silk Road in Dubai for Expo 2020.
"Our Chinese partner will invest 2.4 billion dollars in this station to store and ship Jebel Ali's Chinese products to the world," Shaikh Sheikh Mohammed, also Dubai's sovereign, said in a tweet.
Increasing influence
The United Arab Emirates has become a key player in Xi's Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to connect China by sea and land to markets in Asia and Europe through 39, a series of strategic and often controversial investments.
The project has led some to believe that China is using this initiative to expand its economic and geopolitical weight – but Beijing has always rejected these criticisms.
"We live in a world very different from what we lived ten years ago.It is a multipolar and multi-conceptual world," Brende said.
"Multipolar, in the sense that we see a lot more geopolitical competition.It's also multi-conceptual, because there are different ideologies.This is not just one to which we are accustomed, with the way in which the United States and Western Europe are managing things, "he added.
"In such a world, what is important to me is that we can find common ground and collaborate on these issues, not just compete with one another."
UAE will be "vital"
The United Arab Emirates will be "a vital station along the new Silk Road," Friday's tweet on Friday announced the project of a "basket of vegetables" of one billion dollars. dollars to import, process, package and export agricultural, marine and animal products through the new Silk Road. The project is supported by the Sino-Arab Investment Fund, he added.
"The Arab-Chinese collaboration will contribute positively to the Belts and Roads Initiative, given the strategic location of the Arab world that connects East and West," tweeted Sheikh Mohammed.
The UAE government has also partnered with the World Economic Forum to launch the "Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution" in the UAE, the first of its kind in the region and the fifth in the world.
The term "fourth industrial revolution" is defined as a "technological revolution … that blurs the boundaries between the physical, digital and biological spheres". It was a term introduced by the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab.
The new initiative – a collaboration between the Dubai Future Foundation and the World Economic Forum – aims to develop mechanisms, applications and uses for the fourth industrial revolution in the UAE, according to a government statement.
"The fourth industrial revolution will shape the whole century," said Brende. "The nations that master these new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, big data and autonomous vehicles, will emerge from this century as the most prosperous."
"I'm not surprised that the United Arab Emirates and Dubai are in the foreground," he added.
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