Some 20,000 square metres of retail space on Barwa Commercial Avenue are to be turned into a shopping complex exclusively selling Chinese goods, the Chinese Ambassador to Doha has told the Gulf Times. 

The shopping area will be based on Dubai’s Dragon Mart, which was founded in 2004. It’s now often called “Dragon City,” a reflection of its size – it has over 1000 shops, and is over 1.7 km long. 

A retail outlet of this size would be no challenge for Barwa Commercial Avenue, which offers a whopping 8 kms of retail space. 

Doha’s very own Dragon Mart is expected to open either at the end of this year or at the beginning of the next, according to Chinese Ambassador Gao Youzhen.

He told the Gulf Times that he hopes the project will open up new trading opportunities for Qatar:

“In Dubai the facility was set up primarily to meet the needs of the country.  Later, many of the Chinese products were  exported to other GCC, Middle East and African countries. Doha could also make use of the new facility to expand its business with other countries.”

Thoughts?

Credit: Photo of Dubai’s Dragon Mart by Ahmed Rabea