( CNN ) -- Victor Chu is chairman and CEO of Chinese investment firm , First Eastern Investment Group . He is also the chairman of FE Securities and First Eastern Investment Bank , the first Chinese bank to be licensed by the Dubai International Financial Centre . Previously , he served as director and council member of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and member of the Hong Kong Government 's Central Policy Unit . Victor Chu : China has a lot to contribute in terms of the reinvention of the Gulf . He is also a Foundation Board member of the World Economic Forum and he co-chairs the WEF 's International Business Council . Victor Chu met CNN 's John Defterios in Beijing to talk about the deepening economic relationship between China and the Middle East and the motivations behind it . Watch the video . » . Defterios began by asking Chu why China is so interested in the Middle East . Victor Chu : There are strategic and commercial reasons . Strategically , China needs to be friendly to make sure that it is a long-time sustainable partner in terms of energy resources . But China also has a lot to contribute in terms of the reinvention of the Gulf . The Gulf , as you know , is probably the richest area in the world . But in terms of infrastructure development , many parts of the Gulf are still in the second world . If the Gulf wants to get up to speed in the quickest time possible it will need Chinese engineers , construction companies and equipment companies . And with China 's 30 years ' experience in developing its own infrastructure and the standard of Chinese engineering , there 's a lot going for Chinese companies . John Defterios : So what are the hot areas of investment for Chinese money going into the Middle East ? VC : Right now it is in terms of infrastructure . We already have Chinese companies winning contracts in Saudi Arabia on railway constructions , on plant constructions , and down the road it will be services . Because the Gulf is expanding so quickly they need service too . And in the past there were a lot of people from the Indian sub-continent helping them but now there are a lot more Chinese . JD : So China is exporting labor as well ? VC : Professional as well as labor . When I first went to the U.A.E . 15 years ago there were only a few thousand Chinese residents . Today the number is 200,000 . JD : What 's your projected growth for investment going into the Middle East ? VC : The figure I hear today is that there could be as much as 20 billion of direct investment from the Middle East going to China on an annual basis . So if half is recycled the other way we 're talking about a very big number indeed . JD : Is this a one-way street , Chinese money going into the Middle East or is it coming back as well ? VC : There 's enormous interest from the Gulf to look into China and that 's partly because of the trend of the fund flow from the West to the East . In the past the petrol dollar tended to go to Europe and America for safe havens . Today there 's still a lot of that . A huge part of it is going back to the Gulf for infrastructure development and also for investment into the East . And historically the Far East stopped in Singapore . It 's only really in the last ten years that the Middle Eastern capital has found China . E-mail to a friend .
Victor Chu is CEO of Chinese investment firm , First Eastern Investment Group . Gulf needs Chinese engineers and construction companies , says Chu . There are now 200,000 Chinese residents in the U.A.E .