By Joseph Varghese/Staff Reporter
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A “Dragon Mart” featuring hundreds of shops selling Chinese goods exclusively will be opened at the Barwa Commercial Avenue either by the end of this year or early next year, the Chinese ambassador has said.
Based on the Dubai Dragon City, some blocks of the sprawling Barwa Commercial Avenue that leads from the Abu Hamour roundabout to the Industrial Area will be used to set up the Dragon Mart , ambassador Gao Youzhen told Gulf Times in an interview. He said that an agreement in this regard had already been signed with the Barwa Real Estate .
The Barwa Commercial Avenue stretches for more than 8km and the mixed-use facility is expected to be completed in a few months’ time.
According to the ambassador, the proposed mart will be based on the Dubai Dragon City . He explained the overall Dragon Mart would be spread over 20,000 square metres. “There will be about 100 shops to begin with. The date of opening is not yet decided but we expect that it might be opened by the end of this year or early next year.”
“In Dubai, as the compound of the whole complex is quite long and full of Chinese products, it is called the Dragon City. It was started after the Dubai and Chinese governments encouraged some Chinese companies to start business in the city. At present there are more than 1,000 retail shops in Dragon City Dubai.”
The ambassador observed that the Dragon City in Dubai had matured and Doha was now witnessing rapid growth. He stated: “In Dubai the facility was set up primarily to meet the needs of the country. Later, many of the Chinese products were exported to other GCC, Middle East and African countries. Doha could also make use of the new facility to expand its business with other countries.”
The envoy also said that the proposed Doha centre would be a private investment by Chinese businessmen and entrepreneurs. He said this venture would promote two-way trade between Qatar and China.
“As Qatar is embarking on a comprehensive development strategy, there are great investment opportunities in the country and the Dragon Mart will facilitate the development activities in the country.”
He added that many Chinese companies had already started recruiting people for the Dragon Mart project.
There are now about 6,000 Chinese living in Qatar.