The UAE Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) will attend the first Sino-Arab Cooperation Forum in China in mid-April, the official WAM news agency said Saturday in Dubai.

Abdullah Rashid al-Kharji, FCCI chairman in Umm al-Qaiwain, one of the UAE's seven emirates, will lead the delegation to attend the forum scheduled for April 12-13 in Beijing.

The delegation includes a number of heads of chambers of commerce and UAE businessmen, according to WAM.

Bilateral trade between the two countries reached 8.1 billion US dollars in 2004, a nearly 40 percent growth from the previous year.

The number of Chinese enterprises registered in the UAE exceeded 350 by 2003.

Meanwhile, trade between China and the Gulf Cooperation Council states as a whole recorded a gradual growth, surging from 1.5 billion dollars in 1991 to 16.9 billion dollars in 2003.

Source: Xinhua