Diverse consumer market, top exhibition destination

As strategic trade partners， China and the United Arab Emirates （“the UAE” hereafter） have been enjoying a win-win complementary partnership with one another and they are playing an important role in world economy. The two countries officially established diplomatic relations in 1984. Now the UAE is the second biggest trade partner of China in the Middle East， while China the second biggest non-oil trade partner of UAE.

The UAE and China have strong and growing bilateral relationship based on shared values and common interests， which is reflected positively on the average annual bilateral trade growth rate which reaches about 16% with non-oil trade of 40.4 billion US dollars in the year 2013， also about 60% of Chinese exports to the Middle East passes through the UAE. There are more than 4，200 Chinese companies based in the UAE， more than 350 Chinese trade agencies， and more than 2，500 registered Chinese trademarks， more than 300，000 happy Chinese living and working in the UAE. Direct flights between UAE and China participated positively in strengthening the bilateral relations with more than 75 weekly flights between UAE and different cities in China – Emirates Airline， Etihad Airline， Al Arabiya air – and it is expected that there will be more flights to different Chinese cities in the future in order to further enhance the shared values and common interests between both countries.

According to the official annual report on exhibitions by China Council for the Promotion of International Trade （CCPIT）， China’s chief governmental agency for international trade cooperation， in the past years， the UAE has been one of the most popular overseas exhibition destinations for Chinese exporters. There are many factors that make the UAE a preferable destination of choice for the international exhibition industry， such as the state-of-theart purposely-built conference and exhibition centers， sophisticated logistic network， highly developed infrastructures， convenient customs？clearance procedures and preferential taxation policies for exhibits and many other favorable factors.

Huge consumer market volume also proves to be appealing for exhibitors. Locally， the UAE possesses one of the highest GDP per capita in the world， and with more than 200 nationalities living in harmony in the UAE， means that the most luxurious brands as well as new or even no name quality brands will find their own customers in the UAE market. In addition， the busy UAE airports such as Abu Dhabi， Dubai and Sharjah make it possible to reach about 2 billion potential customers in the surrounding Asia， Africa and part of Europe within four-hour flight. For Chinese products of good quality and reasonable price， the UAE is not only an important end-consumer market， but also a platform to enter the MENA region. Apart from the traditional commodity trade including food， agriculture， building materials and logistics， cooperation opportunities in sectors like alternative energy and new technology are also expanding.

In November 2013， the United Arab Emirates won the right to host the World Expo in Dubai in 2020. This will be the first time that the World Expo is staged in the Middle East， North Africa and South Asia（MENASA）. Under the theme of Connecting Minds， Creating the Future， Expo 2020 Dubai is expected to attract 25 million visits， 70% of which will be from overseas. For international companies， the rising demand in infrastructure construction and consumer goods the Expo brings means yet more space for business expansion.