Cooperative ties with GCC member countries consolidated

Many businesses in Guangdong province have played an active role in the province's economic and trade cooperation with Gulf Cooperation Council member countries.

Founded in 1981, the Gulf Cooperation Council, GCC for short, is the most significant political and economic organization in the Gulf region comprised of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait.

Shengong New Material from Guangdong is one such industrial player. It signed a contract to invest in a modified asphalt and waterproof material project in Saudi Arabia in late 2022, which will create 350 direct job opportunities and 500 indirect vacancies for locals. The investment came right after the company's initial phase of investment became operational and the second phase began construction.

Shengong's investment first began in November 2020 when the company launched its plastics, new materials and electrooptical industry manufacturing base project in Saudi Arabia. Entailing a capital input of $892 million, the base project is expected to realize an annual output value of $2.20 billion when in operation and generate about 10,000 jobs.

Qatar achieved a worldwide hit in 2022 with the FIFA World Cup. Guangdong was a key supplier of the game in terms of mobile bungalows, LED lighting solutions, grandstand seats, trees, traffic control systems and World Cup souvenirs.

In the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, GAC Motor from Guangdong has made a strong impression. The Tilal GAC center in Kuwait is the largest overseas brand showroom of the car company. The UAE also boasts GAC Motor's Middle East component transit warehouse, and three sales and service stores as well as an after-sales service center and quick repair center.

Many businesses in GCC member countries have kept a close eye on cooperative opportunities in Guangdong.

Among them, Saudi Aramco signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Guangdong provincial government in March, proposing that both sides explore opportunities of investment in energy, research and innovation, industrial projects, financial cooperation and talent exchange.

In the eyes of Amin H. Nasser, president & CEO of Saudi Aramco, Guangdong has achieved great success in securing massive investments and has become a leader in the petrochemical and advanced materials industries. He said that Saudi Aramco saw space for cooperation with Guangdong in petrochemical, new materials and strategic emerging industries.

In tandem with close partnerships among China and GCC member countries and the promotion of economic diversification in GCC member countries, Guangdong, as China's leading economic powerhouse and front-runner of China's reform and opening-up, has entered a new stage of economic and trade cooperation with the six countries. Cooperation in infrastructure and energy fields remains strong and mutual investment in manufacturing, new energy, the digital economy, biomedicine and many other sectors is gaining speed.

The province's trade with GCC member countries was 145.3 billion yuan ($19.9 billion) in the first eight months of 2023, while the figure was 210.85 billion yuan in 2022.

With a large-scale economy, complete industrial support facilities, convenient transportation and an excellent ecological environment, Guangdong has great potential to cooperate with GCC member countries in the fields of green petrochemicals, new energy, new materials, artificial intelligence and modern agriculture, noted a senior official with the department of commerce of Guangdong. The official pinned his hopes on a new chapter in economic and trade cooperation among Guangdong and the six countries.

Mohammed A. Al Ajlan, chairman of the Saudi-Chinese Business Council, said that GCC member countries vowed to forge a strategic partnership and cooperative ties in various fields with China during the first China-GCC Summit in 2022.

The Saudi-Chinese Business Council plays its role in aiding Chinese enterprises' investments in GCC member countries, so as to help the latter with infrastructure connectivity, economic and financial system integration, business activities and economic integration, he added.

The six countries were China's earliest overseas engineering contracting market and they are China's largest source of crude oil as well as an important destination for investment.

China has launched several strategic projects focused on infrastructure and industrial cooperation: the Dubai Hassyan clean coal power complex; the second phase of the federal railway project; the China-UAE Industrial Capacity Cooperation Demonstration Zone in the UAE; the commercial port at Jazan Economic City in Saudi Arabia and the Lusail Stadium in Qatar, to mention just a few.

At the same time, China and the six countries have expanded their cooperation from energy to high-tech and emerging industries. GCC member countries have taken the lead in promoting the application of China's 5G communication technology, renewable energy, aerospace, AI and big data.

China became the largest trading partner of the GCC member countries in 2020. In 2022, China's trade with them was worth $315.8 billion, a year-on-year increase of 35.6 percent. Direct investment from China amounted to $2.1 billion in 2022, with paid-in capital posting $1.04 billion. Newly signed contracts for engineering projects in the six countries involved $17.01 billion in 2022, official statistics say.