China-Gulf Forum

With the successful bilateral diplomatic visits and the advent of the Belt and Road Initiative, the long-standing partnership between China and the Gulf is at a pivotal moment of evolution and growth.

Inaugurated in 2019, China-Gulf Forum was the first student-led, interdisciplinary forum in the region zooming in on this partnership. China-Gulf Forum 2021 continues to bring together leading scholars, industry experts, and government practitioners to an open, diverse, and inclusive conversation, aiming to address the limitless opportunities and lingering challenges and bring us closer to realizing a vision of more dynamic cooperation between China and the Gulf.

This forum will not only serve to raise awareness of the changing landscape around China's role in the region, but also provide a platform to reconnect the historical and cultural roots, evaluate the recent developments in economic relations and technology, and explore the UAE and China’s joint efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The panel conversations will enhance understanding about this bilateral regional relationship, and potentially stimulate more opportunities for cooperation in both the public and private sectors.

Email china-gulf-forum-nyuad@nyu.edu for more details.

• Agenda
• Speakers

• Day One — April 9, 2021

  Time	Details
  4-5pm	Welcome Remarks and Keynote Speech Diane C. Yu
  5-6:30pm	Panel Discussion: Economics and Finance: Post-pandemic Global Economic Order Reform
  6:30-8pm	Panel Discussion: Culture and History: The Cultural and Historical Ties between the Islamic World and China

  Time is in GST. Each session will end with a short break.

  Day Two — April 10, 2021

  Time	Details
  4–5pm	Interview: China’s 5G and Telecommunication Footprint in the Middle East
  5–5:45pm	Interview: Riding the Grand Wave of China-Gulf Bilateral Opportunities
  5:45–6:30pm	Interview: Chinese Policies and Aspirations in the Middle East
  6:30–8pm	Panel Discussion: Health and Society: Public Health and Global Anti-pandemic Cooperation
  8–8:15pm	Closing Ceremony

  Time is in GST. Each session will end with a short break.

• Opening Remarks: Mariët Westermann, Vice Chancellor of NYUAD

  Keynote Speaker: Diane C. Yu, Executive Director of the Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Scholars Programs and Advisor to leadership at NYU Abu Dhabi

  Economics and Finance: Post-pandemic Global Economic Order Reform
  Moderator: Pablo Ignacio Hernández-Lagos, Associate Professor of Economics, NYUAD
  Bernardo Bortolotti, Visiting Professor of Economics, NYUAD; Director of the Sovereign Investment Lab, Bocconi University
  Tao Xiao, Partner at NH Management
  Winston Ma, VC investor and Author of The Hunt for Unicorns; former Managing Director of CIC
  Xiaolei Yu, Head of China Desk at Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD)

  Culture and History: The Cultural and Historical Ties between the Islamic World and China
  Moderator: Shuang Wen, Visiting Assistant Professor of History, NYUSH
  Guilhem André, Chief Curator, Louvre Abu Dhabi
  Shiren Ding, Professor in School of Philosophy and Sociology, Lanzhou University
  Yuting Wang, Associate Professor of Sociology, American University of Sharjah
  Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, Professor of Chinese History and of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, NYU

  Health and Society: Public Health and Global Anti-pandemic Cooperation
  Moderator: Raghib Ali, Director and Principal Investigator of the Public Health Research Center and Associate Research Professor, NYUAD
  Jonathan Fulton, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Zayed University
  Michal Grivna, Director of the Institute of Public Health, UAE University
  Nawal Al Kaabi, Chairperson of the National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee; Chief Medical Officer, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City

  Interview: China’s 5G and Telecommunication Footprint in the Middle East
  Moderator: Enshu Cheng, NYUAD Class of 2021, Co-chair of China-Gulf Forum 2021
  Speaker: Alex Lee, Managing Director, China Mobile International Middle East

  Interview: Riding the Grand Wave of China-Gulf Bilateral Opportunities
  Moderator: Fisher Wu, NYUAD Class of 2017, Consultant at Roland Berger, Schwarzman Scholar Class of 2022
  Speaker: Zhanfu Yu, Global Partner of Roland Berger; Asia head for TTL (Transportation Tourism & Logistics) and A&D (Aerospace & Defense)

  Interview: Chinese Policies and Aspirations in the Middle East
  Moderator: Diana Zhu, Founder of China-Gulf Forum, MIT Political Science PhD Student
  Speaker: James Dorsey, award-winning journalist; senior fellow, Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies and the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute

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China-Gulf Forum 2019 Review

The first China Gulf Forum was presented in November 2019 by students from New York University Abu Dhabi, in partnership with NYUAD Institute and the Social Science Division. The one-day forum hosted 150 attendees from both the university and the public, and invited 12 local and international honorable speakers, including His Excellency Bernardino León, Former Head of UN Support Mission in Libya, Dr. Robert R. Bianchi, Political Scientist from University of Chicago, and Mr. Charles Clifton, Director of PwC Middle East, among others. Three panels were organized across politics, business, and culture, and stimulated intense intellectual conversations among the panelists and the audience. The event has been widely featured by the media, including the Emirates News Agency, Al Khaleej, and Al Fajr.

Images from the China-Gulf Forum 2019