Dubai
Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the capital’s financial hub, has approved the launch of the first Chinese state-owned financial services firm in the centre, it said on Thursday.
The announcement coincides with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s three day state visit to the UAE, where he is promoting the China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
ADGM said that the firm, known as the Industrial Capacity Co-Operation Financial Group Limited (ICCFG), would provide strategic investment and financial support to Chinese firms as part of the country’s pursuit of new Silk trade routes.
The move follows the signing of a framework agreement between the China-UAE Industrial Capacity Co-operation Demonstration Zone, led by the Jiangsu Provincial Government, in the presence of President Xi, and His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
The state-owned financial services firm, known as the Industrial Capacity Co-Operation Financial Group Limited (ICCFG), is the first of such Chinese financial allowed to provide and arrange credit.
“Strategically located along the Belt and Road corridor,” said Ahmed Al Sayegh, chairman of ADGM, “Abu Dhabi … is a natural link to fast developing economies of Middle East and Africa region, the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia and Greater China.”
