Dubai business hub hopes to attract Chinese investment

Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) will bring in more Chinese enterprises and help them to operate businesses in the Arabian, sub-Saharan Africa and Middle Eastern regions, its senior executives said on Wednesday.

"As the world's second-largest economy, China is very important to Dubai and keeps good relations with the region through Dubai," said Essa Kazim, DIFC's governor.

Established in 2004, DIFC is a federal financial free zone and has its own legal system and courts distinct from those of the wider United Arab Emirates.

Kazim said it will help Chinese financial companies to develop businesses in emerging markets in the area.

"Chinese companies have positive activities in Africa and can bear high risks, and they have made a great contribution to the growth of the region," said Jeffrey Singer, CEO of the Dubai International Financial Centre Authority. "Dubai and DIFC can be the door through which China can enter the region."

As the largest financial center in the Middle East, Dubai has attracted 1,086 companies, six of which - Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, China Construction Bank, China National Petroleum Co and China Petroleum & Chemical Co - are Chinese.

"The big four banks of China are the largest ones in the DIFC and have operated diversified businesses," Singer said.

DIFC has signed three memoranda of understanding with China, of which two are with the China Securities Regulatory Commission and China Banking Regulatory Commission.

"We also have a close cooperation with the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone and have helped it to complete systems to become an important FTZ in Asia," Singer told China Daily.

China will step up to carry out crude oil futures by the end of this year, according to China Securities Regulatory Commission on Monday.

Singer said China should finalize its regulatory rules before carrying out the international crude oil futures trade in Shanghai because liquidity is very important for pricing and setting the benchmark price.