Demographic Changes To Advance China-Arab Business In Coming Years

The rise of a new generation of English-speaking and internationally educated elite in China and Arab countries will help to increase business between the two sides in the coming years, says a Chinese executive involved in expanding contacts between the two.

“The next generation of leadership on the two sides speaks English and can understand each other better than ever,” says Francis Ping, president of the Shanghai Lang Sheng Investment Ltd.    “That is going to have a big influence” on the business and relations between the two in the future, Ping said in an interview in Shanghai.

Ping in September organized the China-Arab States Youth Elite Workshop in Ningxia,  which attracted more than 100 leaders. Prominent among them were Wang Junhao, the CEO of Shanghai-based Juneyao Group, and Xu Haoyu, son of Xu Jingren of the Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group, from the mainland; Douglas Woo, the son of Peter Woo and Philip Sohmen, the son of Helmut Sohmen, from Hong Kong; and Gasem Saleh Al Shaikh, a senior executive in the Saudi Binladen Group from Saudi Arabia. Xu Jingren ranked no. 83 on the 2011 Forbes China Rich List, Peter Woo ranked no. 8 on the 2011 Forbes Hong Kong Rich List, and Helmut Sohmen ranked no. 21 on the Hong Kong list.

Delegates discussed the impact on globalization on young leadership and compared the nature of family business in Arab and Chinese cultures.

Already, China is the largest buyer of Saudi oil and is one of the largest suppliers of that country’s imports.  “The two places should be very close but aren’t right now,” Ping said.
The prospect of slower economic growth in 2012 will likely lead businesses from the Middle East to be interested in taking a closer look than ever in cracking China’s domestic market, Ping said.

Among existing investments in China by Saudi businesses a $5 billion project between China’s Sinopec, Saudi Aramco and Exxon Mobil.

Forbes itself will be holding its next annual global CEO conference in Dubai next year, marking the first time that the event will be held in the Middle East.  

Source: Forbes.com