The relationship between the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and Asia is entering a more structural phase, and this year’s Summer Davos in Dalian offers a useful signal of where the conversation is heading.
The theme, “Innovating at Scale,” centers on shifting trade, technology in the real economy and competitiveness in the energy transition. That framing reflects a wider reality: the next phase of growth will depend less on what individual markets can do alone, and more on how regions build together.
For much of the past two decades, MENA-Asia engagement was largely defined by trade, infrastructure and capital flows. Today, a new phase is emerging—co-creation. Governments, sovereign investors and companies are no longer simply exchanging goods and capital; they are increasingly building industrial ecosystems together.
Paradoxically, a more fragmented world is helping drive this trend. As trade routes, industrial policy and technology ecosystems become more contested, resilience is becoming as important as growth. Partnerships that combine capital, technology and industrial capability are becoming more valuable than scale alone. The Gulf’s relationships with Asia’s major growth markets offer a clear illustration of this shift.
The United Arab Emirates-India partnership, for example, has evolved far beyond trade facilitation. Since the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement entered into force in 2022, bilateral trade has expanded rapidly, but the significance of the relationship now lies in its broader ambition. Energy, food security, logistics and healthcare are increasingly becoming part of a wider strategy to build shared growth platforms across both markets. Recent agreements in renewable energy, food processing and healthcare investment reflect a partnership that is becoming more strategic, diversified and future-oriented.
Saudi Arabia’s engagement with China points in a similar direction. Bilateral trade reached USD 107.5 billion in 2024, with Chinese investment in the Kingdom rising 29% that year. But the more significant story is what that investment is building. Partnerships spanning renewable energy manufacturing, advanced technologies and industrial supply chains are aligned closely with Vision 2030 priorities. The relationship is increasingly defined not by the volume of commercial exchange, but by the capabilities it leaves behind.
What matters is the type of value being created. More partnerships are being designed around shared industrial outcomes: local production, local capabilities, local jobs and long-term positioning in sectors that will matter over the next decade.
This is also changing expectations on both sides. For Gulf markets, capital is increasingly linked to ecosystem-building and technology absorption. For Asian companies, market access is becoming tied to market contribution. Governments across the region are asking not only what foreign partners can sell, but what capabilities they can help build. Local talent development, technology transfer and industrial localization are becoming strategic differentiators rather than regulatory obligations.
If this trajectory continues, three developments are likely to shape the next phase of MENA-Asia cooperation—and all three are already underway.
- Deeper industrial integration is likely, particularly in clean energy, advanced manufacturing and digital infrastructure. As capital and capabilities become more closely aligned, we are likely to see the emergence of new industrial platforms that span both regions.
- A stronger localization push is already visible, with market opportunities increasingly linked to what partners build on the ground rather than what they export into it. The ability to create jobs, transfer knowledge and support national development priorities will become a key determinant of long-term success.
- A broader south-south corridor is beginning to emerge, with the Gulf playing a larger role in connecting Asian capital, technology and industrial capacity to Africa and other growth markets. That role is still taking shape, but its strategic weight is growing fast.
Summer Davos is not the cause of these changes, but it is a useful indicator of where the conversation is heading.
The next phase of MENA-Asia engagement will not be defined by the volume of trade flowing between the two regions but by what they build together. The organizations that understand that shift early—and position themselves within it—will be far better placed to shape how value is created across both regions.
