BizChina

Just after Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, opened in Dubai on Jan 4, a group of Wenzhou investors of Zhejiang province is planning a trip to the coastal city, looking to buy some discounted properties.

"When they learned of such an opportunity to visit Dubai, more than 20 members expressed an interest in joining the visiting group," Zhou Dewen, head of the Wenzhou SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) Business Development and Promotion Association, was quoted as saying by Tuesday's China Daily.

"Although the economy there has not revived yet, we believe big business opportunities exist not only in property, but also in export trading," he added.

Zhou's visiting group is sensing the recovery of Dubai after the completion of the world's tallest building.

"The air-ticket bookings to Dubai have nearly doubled compared to the same period in 2009, a remarkable growth beyond our expectation," said Michael Peng, sales manager with Shanghai Business International Travel Service Co.

The bilateral trade volume reached a historical high of 1.376 billion U.S. dollars during the first 11 months of last year, up 12.4 percent over the same period of the previous year, said Chen, adding that China's imports from Ethiopia during that period rose 202 percent to over 200 million dollars.

During his talks with Sufian Ahmed, Ethiopia's minister of finance and economic development, the Chinese minister said China's investment in Ethiopia had accumulated to 138 million dollars in areas like textile, daily necessities, machinery, glass, building materials and leather.

By the end of November last year, Chinese firms in Ethiopia had accumulated a turnover of engineering contracts with nearly 4 billion dollars, said Chen, who arrived here on Monday for a two-day visit.

China's business climate index, a major measurement of macro-economic outlook, rose 6.2 points in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday.

The quarterly business climate index climbed from 124.4 in the third quarter to 130.6 in the fourth quarter, the NBS said.

The index ranges from zero to 200. A reading above 100 shows economic expansion, while a reading below 100 indicates contraction. The survey began in 1998.

The index for the industrial sector rose 7.6 points to 128.1 in he fourth quarter. For the first time since 2008, all the industrial sectors reported business climate index above 100, which indicated expansion, said the NBS.

China has surpassed Germany to be the biggest exporting country of the year 2009, according to the website of China's Ministry of Commerce.

Exports from China totaled 957 billion yuan ($140 billion) from January to October last year, while Germany lagged behind with 917 billion yuan ($134 billion).

The trading of the final two months of the year wasn't believed to make a difference, according to a Geneva-based global trade service company, cited by the Wall Street Journal.

Germany's export was reportedly affected by the global financial crisis and recovered slowly. The Federation of German Industries (BDI) predicted that its export would increase by 4 percent this year and needs another four years to fully recover.