The UAE’s Central Bank and Hong Kong’s Monetary Authority have signed an agreement to improve financial cooperation
The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) signed an agreement in a meeting in Hong Kong to improve their financial relationship.
MoU Details
The two organizations have agreed to connect the debt capital markets and financial systems between Hong Kong and the UAE, according to a joint statement released on Friday. This includes helping with cross-border activities related to issuing debt securities and making investments.
The meeting was attended by Saif Humaid Al Dhaheri, assistant governor for banking operations at CBUAE, and Stanley Chan, president of the central money markets unit at the HKMA, along with other senior officials.
Khaled Mohamed Balama, the governor of the CBUAE, said, “Our goal is to make it easier and cheaper to issue, trade, invest in, settle, and manage collateral for debt securities across borders.”
Balama added that this effort will help the UAE become the key access point for investors in the MENA region to reach Chinese and Asian debt markets, and vice versa.
Since their first meeting in May 2023 in Abu Dhabi, the CBUAE and the HKMA have had detailed discussions on connecting cross-border debt markets, improving financial systems, and investment opportunities in both the MENA region and Mainland China.
UAE-China Relations
In the first half of 2024, trade between the UAE and China reached $42.4 billion, a 3% increase compared to the same period in 2023, according to official data released on Wednesday.
In 2023, trade between the two countries totaled $86.7 billion, a 12.1% increase from the previous year. China is the 10th largest destination for the UAE’s non-oil exports, accounting for 2% in the first half of 2024.
China, the world’s largest oil importer, has become the top buyer of oil from Gulf countries over the past 20 years. The energy trade is central to the relationship between China and the Gulf states, according to a European Council on Foreign Relations report from May.
Tourism is another important area of cooperation. In 2023, the UAE welcomed about 1.2 million visitors from China, and the Chinese population living in the UAE reached 350,000.
Published: 23th December 2024
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