Digital expo helps SZ firms expand presence in Middle East

Fifty-five Shenzhen companies showcased their latest products at the Shenzhen Pavilion during the first China-UAE Economic and Trade Digital Expo.

The weeklong expo, which ended Tuesday, was jointly hosted by the Ministry of Economy of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT). It was a platform designed to reinvigorate trade activities between the two countries as they seek to lay the foundations for bilateral trade in the new digital economy.

According to the Shenzhen Subcouncil of CCPIT, the 55 Shenzhen firms, including China Yong Feng Yuan Co. Ltd., a high-end luxury tabletop manufacturer, MGI, a subsidiary of BGI Group, and medical manufacturer SonoScape, engaged in a wide range of businesses such as electronics, smart furniture, fashion and textiles, medical equipment, agricultural produce, culture and tourism.

A total of 27 Shenzhen companies conducted 70 livestreaming sessions. Yong Feng Yuan said the firm received more than 100 inquiries within a week.

The companies, which have posted a big slump in orders from European and U.S. markets as the COVID-19 pandemic bites, said the expo is a good way for them to seek business opportunities in the Middle East.

The event attracted 2,100 UAE and Chinese enterprises to attend and more than 14,000 professional visitors from 86 countries.

It featured a series of virtual exhibitions and discussions with keynote speakers spread between nine sessions — smart metropolitan and big data, energy-saving and new-energy vehicles, modern agriculture, free zone/finance and investment, new building materials, textile and fashion, education, health care supply, and tourism.

Official figures showed that bilateral trade between China and the UAE exceeded US$50 billion in 2019 — a 16-percent increase from 2018. Nonoil exports from the UAE to China grew by 64 percent in the same period driven by the UAE’s aggressive economic diversification.

The two countries had set their sights on bilateral trade climbing towards the US$100 billion mark before the COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented global economic shock.

The UAE is China’s most important trade partner in the Arab world, accounting for 26 percent of total nonoil foreign trade between China and Arab countries, according to Sheikh Majid bin Abdulla Al Mualla, chairman of the Board of Directors, Hala China.

Last year, a high-ranking delegation from Shenzhen headed by Party chief Wang Weizhong visited the UAE. In December, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Dubai and Shenzhen, stating that the two cities will cooperate to achieve prosperity and development in a number of different sectors of common interest.

Shenzhen’s Huawei, ZTE, Tencent and DJI have made investments in Dubai.