Organizations from Dubai and China signed ten memorandums of understanding (MoUs) in connection with the Dubai Business Forum held in Shenzhen on October 14, 2026, KrASIA reported. The forum brought together 854 Chinese investors and business leaders alongside a 112-member delegation from Dubai organized by Dubai Chambers. The gathering marked the fifth international edition of the forum and its second in China following the August 2024 Beijing event.
Six of the signed MoUs connected Dubai Chambers with Chinese business bodies, including chambers of commerce in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Beijing, and Chongqing, alongside two Greater Bay Area business associations. Among other bilateral deals, Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy signed an agreement with Alibaba Cloud to boost digital economy collaboration, Dubai CommerCity partnered with the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park, and jewelry industry associations from Dubai and Guangdong established formal ties.
A fourth agreement finalized plans for a joint venture between Dubai-based Gargash Prime and JD Property, the infrastructure arm of JD.com, to develop a regional distribution and fulfillment hub at Dubai Industrial City. Gargash Prime Managing Director and Group CEO Shehab Gargash told Khaleej Times that investment in the facility is projected to exceed AED 500 million (USD 136.1 million), with construction slated to start in 2027 and phase one lasting around 18 months.
Artificial intelligence featured prominently in the forum's agenda, aligned with Dubai's D33 economic agenda. Mohammad Ali Rashed Lootah, president and CEO of Dubai Chambers, highlighted the chamber's agentic AI program designed to spur adoption across 295,000 private firms, develop 100 specialized AI assistants over two years, and train approximately 14,000 businesses. Dubai Chambers noted that bilateral non-oil trade reached AED 363.5 billion (USD 99 billion) in 2025, up nearly 23% year-on-year, while Chinese FDI into Dubai rose from AED 1.2 billion in 2024 to more than AED 3.4 billion in 2025.
Sources
- KrASIA · 2026-10-16



