DUBAI, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Ellington, a design-centric lifestyle developer based in United Arab Emirates (UAE)'s Dubai, has signed a partnership with Beike, China's real estate listings portal.

According to a statement from Ellington on Tuesday, Beike, which reaches buyers in 300 cities and serves more than 200 million families, will build awareness of Ellington's real estate to Chinese investors.

The agreement was signed at a ceremony in China's capital Beijing between Ellington's Managing Directors Robert Booth and Joseph Thomas, and Gene Shi, president of international operations for Beike.

"Given its influence in the Chinese market, Beike is a strong choice for partnership to build awareness of Ellington in China and to encourage further investment from the Chinese market," Booth said.

Beike was created to meet the needs of growing number of Chinese families who seek overseas property including new, second-hand and rental ones.

The UAE has become China's second-largest trading partner and largest export destination in the west Asian and north African region, while China has been one of the largest trading partners of the UAE for several years.

The trade volume between the two countries reached 41 billion U.S. dollars in 2017.

More than 200,000 Chinese nationals live in the UAE, and 4,000 Chinese firms run branches and operations in the Gulf Arab state.