CHINA DAILY – China’s trade and investment links with Africa and the Middle East have become deeper and more mature in a positive manner, with Chinese enterprises active in all sorts of sectors, ushering in more development opportunities for all, a Senior Executive with Standard Chartered said.
Regional Head of client coverage, corporate, and commercial and institutional banking in Africa, the Middle East and Pakistan at Standard Chartered, Sarmad Lone said in an exclusive interview with China Daily that trade and investment cooperation between China and the Middle East and that between China and Africa are both deeper and developing further.
Thanks to multiple drivers including having common values such as an environment of encouragement for free trade and innovation and promoting economic growth, he added.
“We increasingly see more cooperation between Chinese businesses and businesses of the Middle East and Africa,” Lone said, adding that free trade and free movement of goods and capital have always worked to benefit the countries and companies involved.
“What we see is that a lot of times, companies and countries are in need of solutions and many times the best solutions are coming from Chinese corporates,” he said.
China-Middle East trade volume nearly doubled over the 2017 to 2022 period, from USD262.5 billion to USD507.2 billion, according to Chinese Customs data.
The Middle East is the fastest growing trading partner to China in 2022, up 27.1 per cent year-on-year, compared to the ASEAN (15 per cent), the European Union (5.6 per cent) and the United States (3.7 per cent).
Trade volume between China and Africa also surged by 14.5 per cent on a yearly basis in 2022 to almost CNY1.9 trillion.
China is currently the largest trading partner for many major economies in the Middle East and Africa, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and South Africa.
