Dubai, UAE is known as the "gateway to the Middle East" and plays an important role in the Belt and Road Initiative. As the Chinese economy takes the lead in recovering from the epidemic, the sales of Chinese products in the Middle East have become more and more popular, and Dubai is also becoming a distribution center for Chinese goods in the Middle East.

Adjacent to the Dubai World Expo site, Dubai Yiwu China Commodity City is under construction. By the end of 2021, when the Dubai World Expo officially opens, this market will be officially put into operation. Zhang Qiuming, general manager of the Dubai Market Company of Yiwu Mall Group, said: “Our Dubai Commodity Commodity City is our first overseas submarket in Yiwu. This project officially started in March 2020. The foundation of the entire market has been established. Our market adopts the form of a front store and a back warehouse. The front is the market and the back is the warehouse. Both the market and the warehouse have bonded functions."

Bright prospects for Dubai China Commodity Trade Center

As an important project of cooperation between China and the UAE, Dubai Yiwu China Commodity City covers an area of 200,000 square meters, has 1,600 shops and 324 warehouses. After the project is completed, it will integrate many of Dubai’s existing Chinese business institutions and make Dubai a The largest trade distribution center for Chinese goods in the Middle East and North Africa. UAE Dubai Global Ports is the world’s third largest container terminal operator. As one of the investors in this project, Abdullah Hashmi, the head of the company, is very optimistic about the prospects of Dubai Yiwu Commodity City: “The epidemic will affect everyone. Both have an impact. China is recovering quickly, and so is Dubai. I think the trade between the two countries will continue to grow in 2021. We believe that many African merchants will be attracted to Dubai, as well as merchants from the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. Yiwu is already well known by the people, and we believe that many merchants will be attracted by the Chinese products offered here."

Zhang Qiuming, general manager of the Dubai Market Company of Yiwu Mall Group, said: "The project is quite successful in attracting investment. Now it has an occupancy rate of 42%, because Chinese products have risen from the previous low-end and low-end products to mid-to-high-end products. Some products, and the price is very competitive, so Chinese products are also very popular here, Dubai and other places, they are sold in stock, so some countries around the Middle East, as well as countries near North Africa, they are more I am willing to come here to purchase, because there is stock, and the shipping is very fast, and it will be there in a few days."

Since 2020, Dubai has taken many measures to promote business development in response to the impact of the epidemic. With the rapid recovery of China's economy, the influence of Chinese products throughout the Middle East, Africa and West Asia is also expanding. These factors are reflected in the Dubai Yiwu China Commodity City. Although it will not open until the end of the year, the current investment promotion of the project is progressing very smoothly. Editor/Sang Xiaomei