Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, who also serves as the CEO of ADNOC and Chairman of Masdar, recently made a business trip to the People’s Republic of China. During this visit, he met with Chinese government officials and several CEOs from major corporations.
The purpose of this trip was to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two friendly nations and to broaden cooperation in vital sectors such as energy, renewable energy, industry, and infrastructure.
Among the meetings held, Dr. Al Jaber met with Minister of Finance Liu Kun, Liu Jianchao, head of the International Liaison Department of the Communist Party of China, and Tsai Jia Yi, President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. UAE Ambassador to China, Hussein Ibrahim Al Hammadi, also attended these discussions.
Dr. Sultan Al Jaber reaffirmed the UAE’s leadership vision, which emphasizes building partnerships that contribute to sustainable growth. He reiterated the country’s solid commitment to enhancing and expanding its comprehensive strategic partnership with China. The aim is to initiate new projects that meet the developmental goals of both nations and support the growth of national businesses while fostering cooperation between the public and private sectors, thus promoting mutual interests and accelerating sustainable growth in both countries.
During the visit, Dr. Al Jaber also conducted several discussions with senior officials from the private sector and CEOs of various Chinese companies. These included Wang Yutao, Chairman of Zhenhua Oil, Liao Zengtai, Chairman of Wanhua Chemical Group, Liu Hailing from the China Investment Corporation (CIC), Dai Houliang, Chairman of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Zhang Chuanjiang, Chairman of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), Zhang Li, Chairman of Envision Energy, Song Hailiang from China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEEC), and Chen Guanfu, President of POWERCHINA International.
These meetings provided a platform to discuss updates on collaborations in energy, renewables, oil and gas, liquefied natural gas, refining, petrochemicals, shipping, and strategic storage. Additionally, they explored ways to enhance investments in areas of mutual interest and evaluated opportunities for developing industrial infrastructure projects, reflecting both nations’ desire to cement industrial and technological partnerships that facilitate knowledge transfer, technology localization, and competitiveness enhancement.
Interestingly, China remains the UAE’s primary trade partner; the total trade volume in 2024 exceeded $100 billion, showing an annual growth rate of 7%, driven by a rise in imports by 18%.
In the first quarter of the current year, non-oil trade grew by approximately 18% compared to the same period last year, propelled by a significant 32.5% increase in exports and a 20.2% rise in re-exports, while imports rose by 12.7%.