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Dubai, home to the biggest airport and commercial maritime port in the Middle East, is considered the business center of the UAE.

As the most open economy in the Gulf region, Dubai is also an important stop on the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road.

Dubai released its smart city initiative in 2016 vowing to transform itself into a world-leading smart city by 2021.

According to the initiative, Dubai will digitalize 100 percent of government services and share government data with public and private entrepreneurs by 2021, which is estimated to create $6.6 trillion in extra value for the government. 

The Dubai authorities' determination to build a smart city has attracted global tech companies to invest in the city, including those from China. 

Today's Story in the Story looks at how Chinese top tech companies are helping promote the city's transformation.

(Photo: CGTN)

Dubai is an international data gathering location, as 80 percent of its residents are from overseas, and China's advantage in AI technology can play a valuable role in the city, according to H.E. Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama, minister of State for AI of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Data from the Financial Times' fDi intelligence shows that among the top 25 cities for AI and robotics investment, Dubai was ranked No. 3, only behind Singapore and Shanghai.

Despite its small population of about 3 million - nearly one-seventh of Beijing's at the end of 2018 - Chinese companies value Dubai as a gateway to the Middle East Asia (MEA) and Africa.

According to a 2018 report on AI by PWC Middle East, AI is expected to contribute $9.6 billion to the UAE economy - nearly 13.6 percent of its GDP by 2030. However, the development of the UAE's mobile internet is four or five years behind China, leaving huge space for Chinese companies to help traditional industries in the area transform and digitalize, analysts said.

"There are large areas for cooperation in the AI industry in the UAE," said Ni Wenfeng, CEO of the Huawei MEA intelligent computing department, noting that Huawei will enhance cooperation with the UAE in various industries to produce greater value.

Huawei has been closely cooperating with Dubai in public sector fields such as healthcare and transportation to help it build a smart city.

According to the company's website, it is working with Dubai Airports to build the world's first Modular Data Centre Complex. Construction started in August 2018 and was estimated to be completed within 10 months. 

The center, once completed, will carry services that cover almost every aspect of the airport, including flight information and airport operations, passenger transportation and baggage services, connectivity and Internet services, video surveillance, enterprise business operations, and maintenance. The project is one of the airport's efforts to show people "what the world's best smart airport can offer" when visitors come from around the world to the Expo Dubai 2020, the company said on the website. 

An employee from the Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority introduces the Dubai Silicon Oasis, a 7.2-square-kilometer project that is slated to be Dubai's first smart city. (Photo: Global Times)

In July 2018, China and the UAE pledged to boost bilateral cooperation under the framework of the BRI as they agreed to lift bilateral relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with the UAE Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum during the latter's visit to Beijing to attend the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in April.

"Along with the BRI construction, Chinese companies have accelerated their pace to go out from China and to the world," Yu Sicheng, former vice president of Alibaba, was quoted as saying by the Alibaba Cloud website.

According to the website, Alibaba Cloud will provide services to Dubai in six pillar areas such as transportation, telecommunication and infrastructure construction to help the city hold a cloud-powered expo and build a world-leading smart city.

The company opened its first data center in Dubai, the seventh in the world, at the end of 2016.

The center will help Chinese companies, especially those related to the BRI, more efficiently promote their business to the UAE with the center's calculating and big data service, media said.

Dubai companies also showed a great deal of interest in Chinese companies' products.

Muath Dassan, a director at the Dubai security company Al Maalim International, said that a vital advantage Chinese companies possess is that they can provide full solutions rather than just solving a specific technical problem.

(Produced by Nancy Yan Xu, Elaine Yue Lin, Lance Crayon, Brian Lowe and Da Hang. Music by: bensound.com. Text from Global Times.)