UAE, China Mull Joint Investment Fund To Focus On Clean Energy Projects

The UAE is looking to set up a joint investment fund with the government of China, a senior official at the Ministry of Economy confirmed.

Abdullah Al Saleh, undersecretary to the UAE’s Ministry of Economy said that talks between two countries have been on going about the establishment of a fund.

“It has already been discussed with the government of China and an agreement has been established on the fund but I do not have any further details on talks yet,” Al Saleh told reporters on the sidelines of an event.

“Both countries have enough liquidity and they also have some of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world. We need to inject this liquidity to finance more projects.”

He added that the fund, when operational, will be looking to invest in clean energy – which is an area of interest to both the UAE and China.

Al Saleh did not specify if the fund will focus its joint investments in developing the UAE’s clean energy sector or will focus on other parts of the world.

“The UAE is a leading country (investing) in green energy. We are investing here and diversifying our sources of energy. But at the same time we are also an investor abroad for renewable energy.”

Trade between China and the UAE has been growing rapidly, and touched $46 billion in 2013, up 14 per cent year-on-year. Trade between two countries rose 25 per cent in the first nine months of this year as it reached $35 billion, the official said.

However, Al Saleh said that foreign direct investment (FDI) flows between two countries was not optimal.

“If you look at the size of the economies of China and the UAE, the figures of the FDIs were below expectations… We can do much better,” he added.