UAE builds Olympic ties with China

The ambassador to China says there was no reason why a future Olympic Games should not be staged in the UAE.

The UAE sailing Olympian Adel Khaled Abdulghafar is all smiles after arriving at the Beijing International Airport ahead of the Games.

BEIJING // As the last of the UAE's Olympic team arrive in Beijing today, the ambassador to China underlined the healthy relationship between the two countries and said there was no reason why a future Olympic Games should not be staged in the UAE. "The UAE and the Gulf countries in general have what it takes to host any future Olympic Games - we have rich experience from seeing the efforts from others such as China and we have young intelligent people capable of organising such an event," Mohammed Rashid al Buot said. "An Olympic committee will not look at the size of country when awarding the Games, they will look at the facilities that country has to offer."

Sheikha Maitha bint Mohammed bin Rashid, who will compete in the women's 67kg class taekwondo event, and her team are due to arrive today from South Korea, home of the sport, where she has been preparing for the competition. The UAE's double trap shooting gold medallist from Athens, Sheikh Ahmed Mohammed bin Hasher Al Maktoum, arrived late last month. Some of the team are staying in the city's gleaming new five-star hotels, while others are being accommodated in the Olympic Village.

They have been given a booklet compiled by embassy staff with a map of the Chinese capital, a few phrases in Mandarin, such as "Ni hao?", which means "How are you?", and a list of Arabic and international restaurants in the city. However, unlike some nations such as Canada or Italy, the UAE has not set up a showroom in Beijing displaying its culture and attractions to curious Chinese. While the athletes, including a 200m sprinter and a 50m freestyle swimmer, are here to fly the national flag in a sporting context, the UAE's real pioneers in China are firms such as Jumeirah, Dubai Ports and Dubai International Capital, which are investing in China in areas such as finance, real estate and construction.

"China will be one of the key markets for future growth for Jumeirah," said Tony Cousens, the company's senior vice president for the Asia Pacific region, adding that it believes a third of its properties will be in Asia Pacific by 2012. The UAE's relationship with China is overwhelmingly focused on commerce, with trade between the countries exceeding US$20 billion (Dh73.4bn) a year. The vast majority, $19.6bn, is made up of goods exported from China to the UAE and beyond, with the UAE serving as China's biggest export market in the Gulf. China and the Gulf countries are also close to signing a wide-ranging free-trade agreement to further bolster trade links, embassy staff said.

In April, the Chinese government invited Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on an official visit to the country. The Sheikh came with 50 business leaders. Overall trade between China and the Arab world is forecast to reach $100bn within two or three years, according to the Arab League. Mr Buot said the UAE and China were standing at either end of a new Silk Road, referring to the overland caravan trade route that flourished between the Middle East and China 2,000 years ago. "For the Chinese side, oil and resources are important. The UAE sees China as a place where it can invest - it is a politically stable and very large market. We see this as a resurrection of the Silk Road between China and the Middle East with large flows of capital from both ends targeting huge markets at either end. Both regions have a lot of liquid assets. The geographic distances are not that big and all this encourages economic co-operation," he said.

The UAE was also encouraging China to invest in energy-intensive UAE industries, such as aluminium production, because energy costs were lower in the UAE, Mr Buot said. "The cities of the old Silk Road have declined and we see Dubai rising as one of the new stars among others such as Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Riyadh, Shanghai. They are the new resting points for the caravans of the Silk Road."

But the Gulf countries and China also offer one another political support over sensitive issues to safeguard growing commerce. "Each side has its needs. The UAE supports the One China policy - hence there are no diplomatic ties between the Gulf countries and Taiwan. From the Chinese side you see support for some of the Arab issues such as the Palestinian cause. China as a UN Security Council member has international clout," said Mr Buot.