DUBAI: Dubai Food Park has signed a Dh1.35 billion agreement with Chinese investors to build the China-UAE Food Industrial cluster foreseen to enhance the emirate’s competitiveness as the region’s leading hub in the food sector
The 4.38-million-square foot China-UAE Food Industrial cluster will be home to 30 food plants, including two Chinese catering companies and two advanced manufacturing plants for food packaging materials, and is expected to be completed 24 months after construction has been started.
The project, which will be undertaken with Ningxia Forward Fund Management Company, will have six major components: meals processing, packaged food processing, cold chain storage, production of food packages, e-commerce and commodities exhibition and bio-safety disposal of waste water and wastes.
At least 75 percent of the total project area will be allocated for factories, 17 percent for warehouses while the rest will be allocated for offices and other facilities.
Abdullah Belhoul, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Wholesale City, in a statement said that the agreement comes at an “important time, given the urgent global need to enhance collaboration on food security by increasing the physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food.”
“The partnership marks a step forward in strengthening bilateral relations at various levels, particularly trade and economic relations between the UAE and China,” he said.
A Ningxia Forward Fund Management Company spokesperson, meanwhile said the agreement would help meet China’s objectives for the Belt and Road initiative and “create large-scale employment opportunities and trade benefits for the world’s nations.”
Dubai Food Park signs Dh1.35 billion agreement to establish China-UAE Food Industrial cluster
Dubai Food Park signs Dh1.35 billion agreement to establish China-UAE Food Industrial cluster
QatarEnergy halts LNG production over Iran attacks: statement
DOHA: Qatar’s state-run energy firm said on Monday it had halted liquefied natural gas production following Iranian attacks on facilities at two of its main gas processing bases.
“Due to military attacks on QatarEnergy’s operating facilities in Ras Laffan Industrial City and Mesaieed Industrial City in the State of Qatar, QatarEnergy has ceased production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and associated products,” the company said in a statement.
Earlier, Qatar’s defence ministry said one Iranian drone “targeted an energy facility in Ras Laffan Industrial City, belonging to QatarEnergy,” referring to the firm’s onshore gas processing base 80 km (50 miles) north of Doha.
Another “targeted a water tank belonging to a power plant in Mesaieed,” the statement said, referring to an area 40 km south of the Qatari capital, which is also a key site for Qatar’s natural gas production.
There were no reports of casualties, the defence ministry added.
The Gulf state is one of the world’s top liquefied natural gas producers, alongside the US, Australia and Russia.
Qatar shares the world’s largest natural gas reservoir with Iran.
State-run QatarEnergy estimates the Gulf state’s portion of the reservoir, the North Field, holds about 10 percent of the world’s known natural gas reserves.
In recent years, Qatar has inked a series of long-term LNG deals with France’s Total, Britain’s Shell, India’s Petronet, China’s Sinopec and Italy’s Eni among others.
