13 September 2026
Dubai Chambers will hold the China edition of the Dubai Business Forum in Shenzhen on 14 October 2026 under the theme “Momentum at Scale: Accelerating Shared Success”. The agenda released on 13 September 2026 confirms senior executives from BYD, Huawei Cloud, Baidu, Tencent Cloud and ARIDGE, formerly XPENG AEROHT, alongside Emirates SkyCargo, DP World China, iMile Delivery and YTO International. The programme covers artificial intelligence, electric vehicles and autonomous mobility, fintech, advanced manufacturing, logistics and digital infrastructure. This is the fifth international edition of the forum and the second held in China, after Beijing in August 2024, which drew more than 800 business leaders.
What Dubai Chambers confirmed for 14 October
The forum is a one-day event built around three formats: sector sessions, bilateral trade and investment discussions, and direct business meetings between companies and investors. Dubai Chambers first announced the Shenzhen date on 12 May 2026 and has now published the speaker list and the session map.
On the government and institutional side, the confirmed speakers include Eng. Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori, Chairman of Dubai Chambers, Hussain bin Ibrahim Al Hammadi, UAE Ambassador to China, Mohammad Ali Rashed Lootah, President and CEO of Dubai Chambers, and Hadi Badri, CEO of the Dubai Economic Development Corporation. On the corporate and capital side the list runs from BYD, Huawei Cloud, Baidu and Tencent Cloud to CICC, China Merchants Capital, Wamda Group, Global Ventures, Yalla Group and the Dubai Future Foundation.
Shenzhen was chosen for its position as a centre of technology, innovation and advanced manufacturing. The stated purpose is narrower than a general trade mission: Dubai Chambers is positioning the emirate as the operating base from which Chinese companies expand across the Middle East and into other international markets.
Artificial intelligence and mobility take the main track
The AI sessions are framed around commercial deployment rather than pilots: how companies move from experimentation to running the technology at scale and measuring the business result. Autonomous mobility sits next to it, which explains the presence of ARIDGE, the low-altitude mobility company formerly known as XPENG AEROHT, and of BYD, whose regional expansion is on the agenda alongside other Chinese electric vehicle and mobility businesses.
Two adjacent topics are on the programme and matter more than they sound. The first is the capital layer: what venture and growth funding is available for AI and technology businesses expanding into the region, with CICC, China Merchants Capital, Global Ventures and Wamda Group in the room. The second is regulation and real-world testing, the practical question of where a new product or service can legally be trialled. Dubai has been building that side out steadily, and we covered the training push behind it when Dubai Chambers Academy opened agentic AI training to 14,000 member companies.
Trade corridors, logistics and digital infrastructure
The logistics track looks at how the trade corridors between China and the region can be strengthened through physical infrastructure and digital systems. Emirates SkyCargo, DP World China, iMile Delivery and YTO International are the named participants, which puts air cargo, ports, cross-border e-commerce delivery and express freight on the same panel.
Digital infrastructure is treated as the enabling layer for everything else: data centres, cloud capacity and the platforms that emerging technologies run on. Fintech and advanced manufacturing round out the investment sessions, and a separate block covers talent attraction and innovation ecosystems, meaning the incubators and hiring channels a company needs once it has a licence.
The numbers behind the Dubai and China corridor
The forum sits on a measurable base. In 2025 a total of 1,583 new Chinese companies joined Dubai Chamber of Commerce, an annual increase of 7 per cent, putting China seventh among the countries of origin of new foreign members. Non-oil bilateral trade between the UAE and China passed USD 100 billion for the first time in 2025, reaching USD 111.5 billion with annual growth of 24.5 per cent, according to Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Foreign Trade, with a stated target of USD 300 billion by 2030.
For context on the wider trade picture, the UAE recorded its strongest half-year on record for non-oil trade in 2026, which we set out in our report on UAE non-oil trade in the first half of 2026. The forum also supports the Dubai Economic Agenda D33, which aims to double the size of the emirate economy and place Dubai among the top three global cities.
What a Chinese or international company should take from this
The forum is an access point, not a regulatory change. Nothing about licensing, visas or tax changes on 14 October. What it does offer is a single day where the decision-makers on both sides are in one building. Companies that plan for it get more out of it than companies that attend and collect business cards.
- Decide the entity question before the meetings, not after: mainland company, free zone company or branch, because it determines who you can invoice and where.
- Map your activity to the correct licence codes in advance, since AI, mobility and logistics activities are licensed separately and the choice affects visa quotas.
- Check bank onboarding requirements early. For a technology or trading company with Chinese shareholders, account opening usually takes longer than the licence itself.
- Bring corporate documents legalised and translated, or you will lose weeks after the forum.
- Know your substance position: office, staff and management presence in the UAE are what turn a licence into a working operation.
How Atlant Capital can help
We work with companies entering the UAE from the first structural decision through to a working entity. That means choosing the jurisdiction and activity codes, handling company setup in Dubai and across the UAE, preparing the shareholder and corporate documents, and then opening the corporate bank account, which is the step that most often stalls without preparation. If you are starting from scratch and want the full sequence before you commit, our guide to company formation in the UAE sets out the options, documents and timelines in order.
Conclusion
The Shenzhen edition on 14 October 2026 is the fifth international outing of the Dubai Business Forum and the clearest signal yet of where Dubai wants the China relationship to go: from trade volumes to technology, capital and operating presence. The names on the agenda, from BYD and Huawei Cloud to DP World China and Emirates SkyCargo, describe the shape of that shift. For companies already considering a UAE entry, the practical work sits before the forum, not after it.
Source: Gulf News.
FAQ
When and where is the Dubai Business Forum China taking place?
It takes place in Shenzhen on 14 October 2026 under the theme “Momentum at Scale: Accelerating Shared Success”. It is organised by Dubai Chambers and is the fifth international edition of the Dubai Business Forum, following London, Hamburg, New York and Beijing.
Which companies are confirmed to take part?
Confirmed participants include senior executives from BYD, Huawei Cloud, Baidu, Tencent Cloud and ARIDGE, formerly XPENG AEROHT, plus Emirates SkyCargo, DP World China, iMile Delivery, YTO International, CICC, China Merchants Capital, Wamda Group, Global Ventures, Yalla Group and the Dubai Future Foundation. Speakers include the Chairman of Dubai Chambers, the UAE Ambassador to China and the CEO of the Dubai Economic Development Corporation.
How many Chinese companies are joining Dubai Chamber of Commerce?
In 2025 a total of 1,583 new Chinese companies joined Dubai Chamber of Commerce, an annual increase of 7 per cent. China ranked seventh among the countries of origin of new foreign companies joining the chamber that year.
Does the forum change any licensing or visa rules in Dubai?
No. The forum is a business and investment platform, not a regulatory event, and no licensing, visa or tax rules change on 14 October 2026. Companies planning a UAE entry still follow the standard route: choose mainland or free zone, select the activity codes, register the entity, then open the corporate bank account.
