UAE Minister of Economy Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri speaks with China Daily on a sideline of Wednesday’s Belt and Road Initiative Summit. (ANDY CHONG / CHINA DAILY)

The United Arab Emirates is hopeful that its expanding trade engagements with China within the Belt and Road Initiative will bring more inclusivity to the country and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, according to a visiting senior UAE government official.

“What’s really brought us here is the economic relationship we have with Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area since His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the President of the UAE, visited (China) in 2019. He signed over 19 memorandums of understanding and agreements,” UAE Minister of Economy Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri told China Daily on the sidelines of the eighth Belt and Road Initiative Summit in Hong Kong. 

One of them, which he regarded as “the most important one”, was the investment protection agreement in 2019. He said the agreement caused them to look at the BRI and aspects of the trades that they were doing.

“The UAE today contributed to trade with BRI $305 billion. That’s a huge amount compared to the last couple of decades, and will play a major role as well in the next decade … more inclusiveness, more people together,” said Al Marri. 

The UAE is also preparing for its accession to the BRICS group of fast-developing economies on Jan 1, which Al Marri is hopeful “will bring in a lot of connectivity” and knowledge transfers that are expected to take place on BRICS-related agreements.

“I think the UAE’s role in international diplomacy, when we see the world, we see it (in terms) of the multipolar world. But we need to be more inclusive, we need to connect people to people, and we need to have different ways and modes of engagement,” said Al Marri.

“I think one aspect we’re looking at … is the policies (which are) going to be very progressive on building talent and building youth, job creation for the region, for the world as well and the South-South cooperation,” he added.

And as the UAE prepares to host the United Nations Climate Summit, or COP28, in November, the minister stressed the importance of its cooperation with China on several engagements such as green hydrogen and tech.

“I think when we look at the climate change aspects, climate change cannot be addressed without China. And I think that’s something, which is an important aspect, where we want to bring as well part of the people-to-people engagement, inclusiveness in the multipolar world as UAE’s hosting the COP28,” said Al Marri.

“We’ve seen a lot of green tech aspects from China to help, (and China has helped with) aspects of climate change and (with) really being inclusive of our targets (to be) net-zero by 2050,” he added.