(Yicai Global) July 3 -- Ahmed Bin Sulayem, the chief executive of the United Arab Emirates' largest free-trade zone Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, visited China for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic to find commercial partners.

China has been one of the most crucial strategic markets for the UAE, Sulayem, who is also the executive chairman of DMCC, told Yicai Global. The visit aims not just to attract business investment but also to find more Chinese partners, he added.

As the Gulf states, led by Saudi Arabia, are seeking economic transition, UAE's industrial and business circles have started to come to China in search of new partnerships.

Established in 2002, state-owned DMCC aims to increase Dubai's commodity trading volume, Sulayem pointed out. The number of Chinese firms setting up in the FTZ jumped nearly 25 percent in the five months ended May 31 from a year earlier, doubling over the past six years, with two new companies on average joining each week, he added.

The number of Chinese firms registering with the Dubai Chamber of Commerce surged 50 percent to more than 6,000 in the past six years, according to the chamber's Chinese representative office.

Last month, Chinese electric vehicle startup Nio said it secured a USD738.5 million investment from CYVN Holdings, an investment firm backed by the Abu Dhabi government. The investor will also buy another 40.1 million of Nio shares from Tencent Holdings, giving it about a 7 percent stake in the Shanghai-based carmaker.

In 2020, DMCC opened a China services center providing support in Mandarin Chinese in its headquarters building to attract Chinese businesses to open offices in the FTZ. It also launched online promotions through WeChat, Xiaohongshu, Zhihu, and other Chinese social media platforms.

The UAE has set the goal of achieving USD200 billion of bilateral China-UAE trade by 2030, Sulayem said. "This needs to be mostly driven by trade diversifications, and according to UAE's statistics, the non-oil trade between UAE and China increased 18 percent in value last year,” he added.

The UAE is China's sixth biggest source of crude oil, with imports jumping 34 percent to 42.8 million tons last year from 2021, official data showed.

Editors: Shi Yi, Martin Kadiev