DUBAI, 7 December 2006 — Victor Chu, chairman of Hong Kong-based First Eastern Investment, urged closer integration between China, India and the Arab world.
“All the three regions have undergone tremendous transformation in recent years and are still in transition bringing about huge opportunities,” he said while addressing the Arab Strategy Forum here yesterday. “China and India have both size and speed. China, India and the Gulf have different political systems, yet there is so much synergy and opportunity. We are culturally similar being family-oriented, value-driven and knowledge-focused.”
He also suggested a tie-up wherein China would leverage its strength in basic processed products, Dubai in logistics and India in information technology.
Sultan ibn Sulayem, chairman of Dubai World, said in his speech that the UAE government is in the process of negotiating a free-trade deal with China, which would help further boost the rapidly growing bilateral relations. He also announced that Dubai’s development company Al-Nakheel is looking at setting up prestige real-estate projects in both China and India to cater to the growing population of the wealthy who demand world-class standards.
“We are a major investor in ports in China and India,” he said. “But we are also looking at real estate projects.” “We see the impact of China in the Gulf in terms of fashion and brown and white goods and will very soon in automotive,” said Mohammed Alshaya, CEO of Alshaya Group.
Alshaya quoted Wharton School of Business research that projected that China and India were going to dominate the world economy.
“By 2050 China will account for 19 percent of the world GDP, which is equal to that of US, Europe and Japan combined. India will not be far behind accounting for 18 percent,” Alshaya explained.
“The growth of China and India is great news for the Gulf. The Gulf is going through a second oil boom. There is lots of surplus and we see huge opportunities for deploying these funds into India and China — but with care because of valuation issues,” he added.
