Dubai Airport Freezone Authority (Dafza), one of the UAE’s leading free zones, has further strengthened its ties with China through a series of initiatives focused on expanding bilateral trade and investment this year.

 This includes a senior government delegation visit from China that was welcomed by Dr Mohammed Al Zarooni, director general for Dafza. He met Qian Keming, Vice Minister of Commerce of People’s Republic of China along with other senior officials and representatives from Dafza and World Free Zones Organization (WFZO) in which they set out strategies and new approaches for planning, managing and operating free zones.

Other strategic initiatives include Dafza recently signing a new partnership with Liaoning Chamber of Commerce UAE. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will increase the collaboration between the two organizations and will help create new business and investment opportunities with Liaoning province.

Dafza also previously signed an MoU with China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone (GDFTZ) – Nansha Area of Guangzhou (Nansha FTZ) and hosted roadshows in the Shenzhen province and Guangzhou in China during April 2018. The roadshows led to a significant amount of new company appointments with several high potential leads for new companies looking to invest in Dafza.

Dr Al Zarooni said: "The UAE and the Republic of China have held strong strategic relations politically, economically and culturally since the mid-1980s. The governments of both countries have sought to build on these relations ever since, with the UAE recognizing China as one of the most prominent economic force in the Asian continent. “

“It was a pleasure to welcome Mr. Qian Keming and his colleagues from the Ministry of Commerce as we continue to strengthen ties between us and look for new ways to collaborate. We see tremendous growth opportunities in a number of sectors including electronics, logistics, e-commerce and medical services and products,” added Al Zarooni.

Dafza also commissioned a delegation visit to China visited the president of Shaanxi Halal Food Chamber of Commerce of Xi'An tie Qunping and Shanxi Province Government deputy Director General Zhai Beiqin. The delegation also met with the director of Bureau of Commerce, Shanxi Government, a representative from Xi’an Airport New City Free Zone, the Deputy Director at Xi'An High Tech Economic Free zone and the Xixian Airport New Area Deputy Director.

The visit helped highlight the importance of Dafza being a key intersection for China’s Belt & Road initiative and allowed for the exchange of expertise on what makes a free zone successful.

Dafza is home to several prominent Chinese companies including Huiteng (Middle East) FZE, Hytera Communications FZE, Junhou International FZCO, Northwell, China Southern Airlines Branch and Oriental Sky Aviation FZE.

Bilateral trade between China and the UAE reached a total of Dh170.2 billion ($46.3 billion) in 2016, which made China the UAE's biggest trade partner for the third consecutive year. In 2017, two-way trade between the two countries crossed $35 billion in the first nine months of the year alone. – TradeArabia News Service