This year marks the 10th anniversary of China’s Belt & Road Initiative, with the Middle East as an important node along it. In our own Jiangsu, Wuxi has of late been busy stepping up its increasingly-solid economic and trade exchanges with Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
今年是中国提出“一带一路”倡议10周年，中东是“一带一路”的重要节点。在我们江苏，无锡近来正忙着加强与沙特、阿联酋的经贸往来。
From 13-17 August, an economic and trade delegation from Wuxi visited the two countries, promoting Wuxi through intensive interactions and practical negotiations.
8月13日至17日，无锡市经贸代表团访问两国，通过密集互动、务实洽谈推介无锡。
That has come as the result of bilateral trade showing strong resilience and vitality. In 2022, Wuxi’s exports/imports to/from Saudi Arabia stood at US$1.11 billion, a year-on-year increase of 8.9 percent. Those with the UAE showed even more growth; 12.6 percent, for a total of US$660 million, as xhby.net reported this morning, 22 August.
这是双边贸易展现出强大韧性和活力的结果。 2022年，无锡对沙特进出口11.1亿美元，同比增长8.9%。阿联酋的增长幅度更大；据 xhby.net 8 月 22 日上午报道，增长 12.6%，总计 6.6 亿美元。
Looking specifically at exports, those of Wuxi to Saudi Arabia between January and June of this year increased by 32.6 percent, while those to the UAE showed a growth of 16.2 percent.
从出口情况来看，今年1-6月无锡对沙特阿拉伯的出口增长了32.6%，对阿联酋的出口增长了16.2%。
As to the region as a whole, over the past 2 years, many Middle Eastern countries have actively adjusted their industrial policies to further promote economic transformation and diversified development. Middle Eastern countries are speeding up their journey eastward, in many cases embracing the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) along the way.
就地区整体而言，近两年来，中东不少国家积极调整产业政策，进一步推动经济转型和多元化发展。中东国家正在加速东进，不少国家也纷纷拥抱“一带一路”倡议。
Hence the sending of a very strong signal to the Middle Eastern authorities in the form of the visiting delegation, to say without doubt that Wuxi means business. In essence, it’s the drawing of a new blueprint for mutual cooperation.
因此，以访问团的形式向中东当局发出了一个非常强烈的信号，毫无疑问地表明无锡是认真的。本质上，这是双方合作的新蓝图的绘制。
Touting their visiting of sister cities, matchmaking meetings, negotiations and recruiting of talent, the Wuxi delegation claimed their fruitful exchanges led to the signing of 34 projects with a total value of US$3.861 billion.
无锡代表团在友好城市访问、对接会、洽谈、人才引进等方面表示，双方交流卓有成效，签约项目34个，总价值38.61亿美元。
This is where a word of caution is necessary. Such signings of large US dollar-denominated projects with China are very often not legally binding. In the most extreme of cases, the money was simply not there in the first place.
这是需要注意的地方。与中国签署的此类以美元计价的大型项目往往不具有法律约束力。在最极端的情况下，钱根本就不存在。
But that which cannot be denied is the very real presence of the China-UAE Capacity Cooperation Demonstration Park.
但不可否认的是，中阿产能合作示范园是真实存在的。
There, the focus is on the development of new energy, machinery manufacturing, metals’ processing, biomedicine, fine chemicals, petroleum equipment and other industries; its low-cost advantage solidified by convenient logistics and transportation. An hour’s drive north of downtown Abu Dhabi, the Park is located in the Khalifa Industrial Zone adjacent to Khalifa Port.
重点发展新能源、机械制造、金属加工、生物医药、精细化工、石油装备等产业；便利的物流运输巩固了其低成本优势。该园区位于阿布扎比市中心以北一小时车程处，位于毗邻哈利法港的哈利法工业区。
There, under the scorching sun, the fluttering national flags of China and Afghanistan are particularly conspicuous. As China’s first such BRI park, the omnipresence of Wuxi is also easy to spot; it’s Jiangsu playing the leading role in the very establishment of the China-UAE Capacity Cooperation Demonstration Park.
那里，烈日下，飘扬的中阿两国国旗格外显眼。作为中国第一个此类“一带一路”园区，无锡的无处不在也很容易被发现。江苏在中阿产能合作示范园建设中发挥了带头作用。
