Abu Dhabi: Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived to a grand welcome at the Presidential Palace in Abu Dhabi on Friday morning.
President Xi was received by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
The visit comes amid a backdrop of growing UAE-China relations on all fronts including economic, political and cultural.
The Chinese president and Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed inspected a guard of honour after the national anthems of both countries were played.
As the Chinese president arrived, several UAE ministers, including Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation; Reem Ebrahim Al Hashemi, Minister of State for International Cooperation; Suhail Mohammad Faraj Al Mazroui, Minister of Energy and Industry; and Sultan Ahmad Al Jaber, Minister of State and Adnoc CEO, were present.
Several government officials and dignitaries were also present along with Ni Jian, Chinese Ambassador to the UAE, and other Chinese officials.
A delegation of Chinese media and local media assembled at the palace to cover the event, the first such visit by President Xi to the UAE.
Later, Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid, Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed and President Xi and officials of both sides held wide-ranging discussions on a host of topics of mutual interest.
Currently, there are strong bilateral ties between the two countries. About 4,200 Chinese companies are operating in the UAE and the bilateral trade in 2017 exceeded more than $53 billion.
On Thursday, Adnoc awarded contracts worth Dh5.88 billion ($1.6 billion) to an affiliate of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to conduct the world’s largest 3D onshore and offshore seismic survey to find new oil and gas reserves.
