Asian countries, China and India in particular, are poised to become the biggest trading partners of the six Arab oil states of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries, said a report released on Tuesday by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and Dubai-based Falcon and Associates.
According to the study entitled “GCC Trade and Investment Flows,” China will be the largest export market for the GCC countries by 2020. The six GCC countries are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
“Between 2010 and 2013, GCC-China trade grew faster than with any other significant trade partners,” said the report.
Chinese investment is also rising in construction and wholesale trade and retail, with over 3,000 Chinese companies registered in Dubai (up from only 18 in 2005).
Cong Hongbin, managing director of Invest Dubai, Falcon and Associates, called the trend “a new era” of Asian growth as countries revisit and reinvest in the New Silk Road.
“Dubai is at the very centre of this. In 2013, China was Dubai’s second largest trading partner, and was on course to overtake India after 21.9 bn dollars of trade was recorded in the first six months of this year,” he said.
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