The development comes at a time of continued commercial interaction between the Gulf states and China.

Chinese authorities have given approval for Qatar's sovereign wealth fund to acquire a 10 per cent stake in its second-largest mutual fund company, Reuters reported late last week.

The Qatar Investment Authority has been granted the ability to become a stakeholder in China Asset Management Co, an official filing by the China Securities Regulatory Commission showed, the newswire reported.

The price of the stake was not disclosed. The report said that previous filings by ChinaAMC's largest shareholder showed that the 10 per cent ownership would not be priced at less than $490 million.

ChinaAMC has assets of more than RMB1.8 trillion ($249.98 billion) and provides mutual funds and exchange traded funds to retail and institutional investors.