Dubai: Politicians, business men, government and private trade and finance representatives from nearly 20 Asian countries will meet in Dubai for the two-day Boao Forum for Asia Financial Cooperation Conference, which starts on November 23.

The conference is expected to open into a passage for a broader cooperation among the Asian countries in different fields, including energy, construction and finance, Asian experts say.

“This conference is the first test in the water. We hope through this conference we can bridge the financial sectors from West Asia to East Asia, [and] energy suppliers and demanders get together to have win-win relations,” Xiyu Yang, Executive Vice-President of Boao Forum for Asia Institute told Gulf News in a recent interview.

Boao meeting in Dubai is “not only designed to boost cooperation between China and UAE, but to bring broader Asia and the East [closer],” Yang added.

It is the first time the Boao forum, which is viewed as an Asian version of the World Economic Forum held annually in the Swiss city of Davos, is being held in the Middle East region.

Choosing Dubai as a venue for the Boao forum demonstrates the growing importance of the relationship between Dubai and China and other subregions of Asia, according to Chirag Shah, Chief Strategy and Business Development Officer at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).

“Dubai sees itself as a location for businesses, not just to do business in the UAE, but as a gateway to this large market place, which Asia is interested in,” Shah told Gulf News.

Commenting on the growing role of Asia in the global economy and trade relations with the rest of the world, Shah said “ten years ago probably, less than 10 per cent of the trade of the region was with Asia, today it is 40 per cent,” he said.

Also, four “massive Chinese banks in terms of their size” had opened offices in DIFC in Dubai, he noted.

China-UAE trade reached $46.2 billion (Dh170 billion) in 2013, a 14 per cent increase from a year earlier. Sixty per cent of the trade between China and the UAE is re-exported to Africa and Europe.

Convenient

Many Chinese look at Dubai as a place to cover Africa, said Shah.

“One would one would wonder why, and it is very simple. Dubai connects better to the African subcontinent more than any where in Africa itself. Just Emirates airline flies to 27 cities in Africa; quite sure you can’t do this in any African city itself. Dubai is convenient, safe, and secure and well-connected, not only with Africa, but from the part of the world you come from,” he added.

While Chinese experts agree with the advantages of Dubai, they added that China also has “comparative and unique advantages that can help boosting the bilateral trade and finance relations”.

“For example, China has very experienced knowledge and skills in infrastructure constructions. China also holds huge financial assets like here, and China has a very high level manufacturing capabilities ranging from the high tech to basic equipment and machines for construction and so on, plus China holds a large amount of highly qualified workforce” in different fields, Yang said.

“I think a bridge between UAE and china for broader cooperation will produce win-win results for both sides.”

At the same time, some similarities and differences between the two peoples of UAE and China could be helpful factor, said Hongbin Cong, Managing Director, Invest Dubai, Falcon and Associate, which is a strategic advisory company in Dubai.

Businessmen usually “jump” to opportunities with profits, he said, “but if you want to build a solid and in-depth relationship, you have to come from the culture. How to make people understand each other’s culture is a starting point.”