July 19, 2018 was a big day for Dubai, the largest and most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In the daytime, the clear and bright sky added the majesty of the Burj Khalifa Tower, the world’s tallest building.

At night, the 828-meter-tall tower was lit up in the colors of the Chinese national flag to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping. With joy and amazement, spectators take pictures of the special moment.

Ahead of Xi’s visit, the Middle East country held a series of activities about China, including the UAE-China Week, Chinese TV series broadcasting, the China Film Week, and the “Embrace China” art performances, involving people from all walks of life.

“President Xi’s visit to our country is a significant and festive event,” said Mohammed Jalal Al Raisi, Executive Director of Emirates News Agency (WAM).

The Belt and Road Initiative proposed by Xi is widely supported by Arab countries, as they share similar development concepts and goals with China. 

“We share the aspiration of building stronger ties between the Arab world and China in such a modern way as the new Silk Road, and that the cooperation under this framework is highly necessary because we have far greater ambitions, albeit the rapid growth of our bilateral relations,” the Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi noted in his visionary statement. 

China and the UAE share many similar policies that are cementing their cooperation. For instance, China’s Belt and Road Initiative echoes the UAE initiative of rejuvenating the Silk Road and the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation shares similarities with the dream of the UAE to make it among the best countries in the world. 

Besides, the China’s two centenary goals correspond with the UAE Centennial 2071 and the innovation-driven development strategy echoes the UAE National Innovation Strategy.

Against the backdrop of jointly building the Belt and Road, China and the UAE have become like-minded development partners, with bilateral relations ushering in a golden period of development. 

The UAE, a model in the Middle East for opening up, is one of the Middle East countries that develop the deepest, broadest and most fruitful cooperation with China. 

The UAE is China’s largest export market and the second largest trade partner in the Arab world, while China is the largest trading partner of the UAE. It is also the first country along the Belt and Road to have mutual visa-exemption treatment with China for ordinary passports, as well as the most favored first stop for Chinese tourists traveling to Arab destinations in the Middle East.

The China-UAE cooperation has yielded fruitful results in energy, finance, production capacity and new and high technology. Significant progress has been achieved in projects such as Abu Dhabi's onshore oil concession, the Khalifa Port Container Terminal Two, the 700-MW Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), which is the world's largest and most advanced solar thermal power plant, and the China-UAE Industrial Capacity Cooperation Demonstration Zone.

China and the UAE will cooperate sincerely and join hands to march forward. Their friendly relations and cooperation will set sail from this new starting point towards the great dream of common development.