Chinese companies are increasingly eyeing Abu Dhabi to set up businesses, according to the regional head of a Chinese trade body.

Zhang Xijing, the representative for the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said that since the landmark visit to China last year by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, investors have beaten a track to the UAE to conduct feasibility studies on potential projects, especially telecommunications and infrastructure. “With the efforts of the China Business Council and the embassy, we have called upon Chinese enterprises to make investments,” the Sharjah-based Mr Zhang said on the sidelines of UAE-China business conference on Tuesday.

Mr Zhang was attending a conference to promote business between China and Abu Dhabi in the capital where more than 200 people gathered to hear presentations and engage in panel discussions.

The Tourism Development and Investment Company, a real estate developer, and the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company were among companies that gave presentations highlighting investment opportunities, such as refining and petrochemicals.

During that trip, the investment fund Mubadala said it would launch a joint fund worth US$10 billion with two Chinese state institution to invest in sectors with strategic importance for the UAE and China.

“His Highness Sheikh Mohammed opened the door to a new phase of the relationship between the UAE and China,” said Ahmad Mohamed bin Ghannam, the acting executive director of international relations at the Department of Economic Development.

He Song, a business councillor at the Chinese embassy in Abu Dhabi, said both countries were united by a desire to diversify their economies, despite the 17 per cent year-on-year drop in bilateral trade to $20.2bn for the first half of the year as global trade slows.