[April 8, 2025 – Abu Dhabi, UAE] Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) and AIM Global Foundation are proud to announce the signing of a partnership agreement to jointly advance trade, promote sustainable investment, and develop global leadership.
[April 8, 2025 – Abu Dhabi, UAE] Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) and AIM Global Foundation are proud to announce the signing of a partnership agreement to jointly advance trade, promote sustainable investment, and develop global leadership. The agreement was signed by CKGSB’s Dean Li Haitao and AIM Global Foundation’s Chairman Dawood Al Shezawi on April 8 at the 14th AIM Congress’ China Investment Forum, held in Abu Dhabi, UAE, where Dean Li also delivered a keynote speech.
Rooted in a shared commitment to fostering global business leadership, cross-border business flows, and economic advancement, this milestone collaboration establishes CKGSB as a Knowledge Partner to the AIM Global Foundation. With this agreement both organizations aim to leverage their strengths to jointly create a CEO Leadership Program, a series of master classes, and business forums that facilitate meaningful dialogue, connections, and mutual growth across China and GCC countries.
Li Haitao, CKGSB’s Dean and Dean’s Distinguished Chair Professor of Finance, emphasized the significance of the collaboration. “As a globally-minded educational institution with a unique focus on fostering chairmen and CEOs, CKGSB is proud to join hands with AIM Global Foundation to shape the future of leadership and entrepreneurship across borders,” said Dean Li. “Through this partnership, we aim to promote sustainable business development and deeper collaboration between China and the GCC region, driving positive change in the global economy.”
“As a globally-minded educational institution with a unique focus on fostering chairmen and CEOs, CKGSB is proud to join hands with AIM Global Foundation to shape the future of leadership and entrepreneurship across borders.” —Li Haitao, CKGSB’s Dean and Dean’s Distinguished Chair Professor of Finance
At the AIM Congress, Dean Li Haitao delivered a keynote speech, titled ‘A New Globalization Paradigm: China and the Global South.” In his speech, he explained that the US tariff war has contributed to a new global paradigm with a rising ‘Global South’. China, as a ‘Global South’ country, sees its trade surplus hit record high levels at $992.16B in 2024, most of which were generated from trade with other ‘Global South’ and Belt and Road Initiative economies, represented by countries in the Middle East, Latin America and ASEAN. As a result of this record trade surplus and its industrial overcapacity, Chinese enterprises are entering a new era of globalization. He traced China’s globalization in four stages and emphasized that today’s private firms like BYD, CATL, TikTok, and Shein are leading a wave of high-quality international expansion that spans multiple industries and is empowered by technologies.
Dean Li explained that the Gulf states are digital economies with premium consumption capabilities. GCC countries have a high GDP ($23K-$84K per capita), a young population, and high smartphone penetration—all of which create strong demands for digital services, premium goods, and ‘New Trio’ products (e.g., electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, photovoltaic products). Considering the Middle East’s digital economy is expected to grow from $180B (2022) to $780B (2030), it is a particularly promising field.
As a manufacturing and consumption powerhouse, China is driving a new phase of global business expansion —fueling both B2B high-value manufacturing and B2C consumer industries, explained Dean Li. He called for long-term capability building, localization through partnerships, and global corporate responsibility, asserting that globalization is not optional but essential for many economies’ future.
Dean Li shared the stage with speakers such as the Ambassador of the UAE to China, Hussain Ibrahim Al Hammadi, the Chairman of AIM Congress, Dawood Al Shezawi, the Deputy Director of the Standing Committee of the Shaanxi Provincial People’s Congress of China, Zhuang Changxing, and the Deputy Director-General of the Department of Information Technology Development of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, Wang Weiwei, to explore the topic of “China’s Investment Dynamics – Opportunities for Global Collaboration.”
AIM Congress is an initiative of the AIM Global Foundation, a leading investment platform in the Middle East, convening 12,000 delegates—comprised of corporate leaders, policy-makers, businessmen, investors, entrepreneurs and academics—from 180 countries in 2024.
Established in Beijing in 2002, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) is China’s first privately-funded and research-driven business school. The school aims to cultivate transformative business leaders with a global vision, sense of social responsibility, innovative mindset, and ability to lead with empathy and compassion.
AIM Global Foundation is an independent international organization fully committed to empower the world’s economy by boosting effective promotion strategies and facilitating opportunities for economic productivity and expansion.
