Expo 2020 Dubai bridge of friendship between China, UAE: ambassador

DUBAI, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Expo 2020 Dubai has become a bridge of friendship between China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Chinese Ambassador to the UAE Ni Jian told Xinhua when attending the opening ceremony of the National Day of China Pavilion on Monday.

The China Pavilion's theme of "building a community with a shared future for mankind -- innovation &opportunity" aligns with the UAE's pioneering and innovative national spirit, as well as the current trend of all humanities joining hands and overcoming obstacles, Ni said.

According to Ni, the China Pavilion is an inspiring display of China's tremendous development achievements and wonderful traditional cultures, as well as a sign of the great potential for bilateral collaboration between China and UAE.

During the opening ceremony of the China Pavilion in October 2021, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister, and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and other senior UAE officials paid a visit to the pavilion and watched a video message of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

This demonstrates the UAE has attached great importance to the China-UAE relations and China's participation in the Expo, according to Ni.

Expo 2020 Dubai, he said, is the first of its kind in the Middle East and will serve as an important forum for mankind to discuss sustainable economic and social growth, as well as global governance in the post-pandemic era.

According to Ni, the UAE and China have a deep and broad partnership that provides a lot of practical outcomes.

China and the UAE have conducted the first Phase III international clinical trial of a COVID-19 vaccine since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Ni, who also noted that the two countries have worked well together in areas, such as pandemic control and prevention, information sharing, and vaccine research and production.

According to the Chinese diplomat, China has fully supported the UAE's universal vaccination program, helping the UAE in becoming one of the world's most vaccinated countries, while the UAE has established a vaccination center in Dubai for Chinese expats, making a significant contribution to the health of Chinese residents living abroad.

Ni said that the UAE was one of the first countries to advocate renewable energy and is an important partner of China in promoting the Belt and Road Initiative, noting that Chinese companies are leading the world in clean energy such as solar and wind energy, and the UAE has a natural advantage in developing the photovoltaic power industry.

The potential for further cooperation in this field is enormous, the Chinese ambassador said, mentioning recent joint renewable projects such as Shanghai Electric's EPC contract for a UAE photovoltaic program.

He expected that China and the UAE would continue to cooperate closely in the field of new energy and realize their complementary advantages in the "post-oil era" to benefit both their citizens and the world.

The ambassador said that there are 143 schools in the UAE that provide Chinese language lessons, with over 45,000 students, accounting for 15 percent of the country's total number of students in public schools.

China-UAE cooperation has enormous potential in the future, including in traditional fields such as energy, infrastructure, education, and culture, as well as in frontier fields such as artificial intelligence, the digital economy, gene technology, health, and modern agriculture, according to Ni.

The secret to the long-term and stable development of bilateral relations, according to Ni, is win-win collaboration between China and the UAE, which benefits both people in both countries.

"I am confident that under the strategic guidance of the leaders of the two countries, the China-UAE relations will continue to make new achievements," Ni said.