Chinese Business Council, ERC host Iftar for labourers

Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

One thousand two hundred labourers were treated to an Iftar by the Chinese Business Council in the UAE (CBC), comprising 180 enterprises, in partnership for the second year in a row with the Emirates Red Crescent, on Sunday evening.

Venue was the Iftar Tent of the UAE’s charitable institution, propped up beside the Chinese Islamic Cultural Centre, located at the China Cluster of the International City in Dubai.

The venue was abuzz with at least 100 volunteers from both the two entities including from the 200,000-strong Chinese community across the country as early as 4 p.m.

“This is the second year we are holding this charitable Iftar. From 600 last year, we are doing it this year with 1,200 labourers (here at the International City). We are giving back to the society (this time more auspicious) as the UAE is also celebrating the Year of Tolerance this 2019. We are keen in developing local communities here,” CBC vice chairman/secretary general Zhou Guangyao told Gulf Today.

Early on and in his speech at the opening ceremonies he said: “We are honoured to associate with the Emirates Red Crescent and support their Ramadan initiative. We decided to associate with like-minded organizations ready to contribute considerable resources to benefit the less fortunate and embrace the country’s pioneering initiatives to emerge as a global capital of tolerance.”

Guangyao, in the UAE for the past two years as Beijing’s China Council for the Promotion of International Trade/China Chamber of International Commerce representative, is looking at “continuing” the charitable Iftars in the next years. For this year, 13 Chinese companies of the 180 enterprises associated with the CBC, sponsored the Iftar.

According to Guangyao, most of the 180 Chinese businesses in the UAE are “big state-owned” companies in the sectors of aviation (airlines), banks, petroleum, construction, shipping, trading, tourism, telecommunications, and power.

Among the dignitaries in attendance was People’s Republic of China (PROC) Acting Consul General to Dubai and the Northern Emirates Tan Li who graced last week, the launch of the Dubai Healthcare City Authority-Guangdong-Macau Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Technology Industrial Park partnership, for the furtherance of Chinese Alternative Medicine and TCM education and application, within the world’s largest healthcare free zone.

She was happy to note the cooperation and unity among her countrymen for the occasion.

In her speech, Tan Li mentioned of the UAE and specifically Dubai being the “second hometown” of her countrymen: “We endeavour to co-exist and become an active member of the (socio-economic development) of the UAE. We have the common values of tolerance and mutual understanding. We must promote these values for a better tomorrow.”

Interviewed, Tan Li said diplomatic relations between the UAE and PROC began 35 years back or in 1984: “This became much stronger with the visit of our President Xi Jinping to the UAE in July 2018 and the visit of UAE Vice President Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum to China in April 2019.”

Saying there are 200,000 Chinese nationals living in the UAE, Tan Li also said that among these are friends of hers who have been residents in the last 30 years.

“They (have carved out their) own stories here. They all like Dubai being an open city where other religions like Buddhism are welcome. That is the beauty of living here,” she said, adding that tourists from all over China have been visiting the UAE and as of the first quarter of 2019, because of the free visa entry policy, 270,000 of her countrymen came.

This was a 13 per cent rise from the number of tourists in the same period of 2018.

Tan Li believes the annual Iftars hosted by the CBC is a positive way of cementing more the UAE-China ties: “We are a part of the community, of the society. We should help.”

Of the Iftar partnership, Emirates Red Crescent-Dubai Centre director Mohammad Abdullah Al Haj Al Zarrooni in a press statement said: “Ramadan is a time to express compassion and share your blessings with those in need. We are extremely thankful to the Chinese Business Council and the various members of the Chinese business community in the UAE. We are constantly inspired by our visionary leaders to do more and give more to the local community.”