DUBAI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will participate in the third Belt and Road Summit to be held on June 28 in Hong Kong, China, UAE state news agency WAM announced on Wednesday.
Abdullah Al Saleh, undersecretary for foreign trade affairs at the Ministry of Economy, will lead the UAE delegation comprising representatives from federal and local entities as well as businesses from across the country.
Around 70 decision makers, government officials and international businesses representatives from more than 30 countries are to speak at the summit, whose theme is "Collaborate for Success."
The summit brings together senior government officials, representatives of international institutions, business leaders and industry experts from countries along and beyond the Belt and Road routes to exchange views on multilateral cooperation and explore new business opportunities.
Al Saleh said earlier in April that the UAE would like to see more investments from China.
In order to reach out to potential Chinese investors, Al Saleh said the country has upgraded training for the UAE free zones, local partners and stakeholders in recent months.
More than 5,000 participants are expected to explore the projects, business and investment opportunities that have been made available by the initiative focusing on financial, infrastructure, IT, services and entrepreneurship sectors, according to WAM.
Proposed by China in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative aims to achieve policy, trade, financial, infrastructure and people-to-people connectivity among countries along the ancient Silk Road trade routes.
"This master plan is an opportunity for Arab sovereign wealth funds to invest in the new epicenter of the global economy," said Nasser Saidi, a Dubai-based economist and former chief economist of the Dubai International Financial Center.
China was UAE's top trade partner from 2014 to 2016, during which the bilateral trade amounted to 141.74 billion U.S. dollars.
About 300,000 Chinese nationals now live in the UAE, while over 4,000 Chinese businesses operate in the Gulf state.
