A Chinese alumina manufacturer was under consideration of an investment project with the United Arab Emirates. East Hope Group was seeking to invest around US$10 billion in an industrial zone, similarly to various companies from China as part of the Belt and Road initiative. There were increasingly more Chinese companies that were taking part in Middle Eastern opportunities in efforts of extending the reach of their customers to the overseas region.

East Hope Group, a company Based in Shanghai, was in the talks with Abu Dhabi-based Khalifa Industrial Zone, also referred to as Kizad, according to reports made on Sunday by them. Communication between the two regards a 15-years project involving various industry developments in a 3-phase agenda: the 1st phase including planning an alumina facility, the 2nd phase including starting a red mud research center and recycling efforts, and the final stage including bringing big upstream and downstream operations to process non-ferrous metals.