Chinese Tiremaker Pumps Up UAE Industrial Zone

Chinese tiremaker Roadbot plans to establish a 2.2 billion dirham ($599 million) factory in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as Beijing forges closer ties with the oil-rich Middle Eastern nation.

Roadbot will build the facility in Abu Dhabi, the country’s capital. It is within the Khalifa Industrial Zone (Kizad), the country’s industrial hub, according to a statement Tuesday from Abu Dhabi Ports, which oversees the zone.

The project — expected to go into full operation by October 2020 — will have an initial annual production capacity of 3 million passenger car tires. The goal is for it to be producing 10 million tires by 2022. Once completed, the facility is also expected to be able to produce 1 million truck and bus tires a year.

Kizad is the UAE’s multibillion-dollar industrial zone. It opened in 2012 as part of the country’s effort to lure foreign investors to help develop its manufacturing industry in bid to shift the economy away from oil.

Roadbot is joining more than 19 Chinese companies that have signed agreements to invest more than $1 billion in total in Kizad, according to the statement.

UAE is a “key partner” in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the statement said.

The Belt and Road is China’s ambitious plan to forge trade and infrastructure links with other parts of the world through overseas investment.

A statement dated early last month (link in Chinese) posted on the website of the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planning agency, also confirmed the investments in the UAE. As of December, 16 Chinese companies had invested about 6.4 billion yuan ($940 million) in the industrial zone, which is expected to create 2,500 jobs.

Contact reporter Mo Yelin (yelinmo@caixin.com)