As the second Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) in Dubai veers towards finalizing its preparation, an accrued number of international delegations including governments, SOE and private sector companies from all key developing economies are rushing in to formalize their attendance and secure their participation in the most anticipated FDI-focus and emerging markets-led event of the year.
Dr. Nouriel Roubini, economist, advisor for the IMF fiscal committee and chief executive officer of Roubini Global Economics who joined AIM 2012 as Global Economic Research Partner commented on the state of the current economies and shared his perspective on emerging markets prospects.
“Emerging Market economies are slowing down but continue to grow strongly, and have strong long-term prospects, particularly those that have improved macroeconomic management, better use of foreign capital and stronger education. South-South trade and investment is on the rise. The next step will be policies that improve coordination and increase final demand in both Emerging Markets economies, to help rebalance global growth and increase global demand. We will be discussing these realities at the Annual Investment Meeting in Dubai.”
The perfect recipe for economic prosperity, exponential growth and strategic governance has yet to be found, however, alternatives that help build stronger economic alliances, foster international trade and engage investors are the most viable and tangible options.
The key imperatives to encourage inward investments in emerging economies include establishing economic blocs to enhance regional trade. The causality between enhanced trade and FDI has long been recognized. Emerging economies trade has increased substantially and so has their economic achievements.
A new breed of developing economies borne in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis present now new economic architecture with more compelling value propositions to help accelerate an inclusive economic integration of their markets and achieve exceptional competitiveness on the global stage.
The activation of reliable mechanisms of economic and financial cooperation starts with building firm foundations to strengthen relationships between key stakeholders. 2010 witnessed a wide-spread movement towards consolidating partnerships to circumvent the negative impact of mature markets cyclic depressions and support emerging countries’ transition to maturity.
Pondering on the need for more economic integration or cooperation, Walid Khaddour, Director at the Arab-Argentina Chamber of Commerce who will be helming the Argentinean delegation (that include the participation of Argentinean Minister of Tourism) at AIM shared his thoughts.
Khaddour stated that the Argentina-Arab Chamber of Commerce sees in the Annual Investment Meeting a great opportunity to further economic cooperation between one of the fastest growing economies in Latin America and the GCC region.
“We are here to build hope-for synergies as we strongly believe in expending trade and business avenues across continents. We are confident that sustaining our partnerships and strengthening our ties with the GCC will translate into viable economic opportunities for both regions, which now are much more linked and connected thru the new routes Dubai-Buenos Aires developed by the Dubai´s most successful story, Emirates Airlines.”
Further strategic discussions on cooperation between the BRICS bloc, MERCOSUR, Southern Europe, ECOWAS, GCC and Korea will be staged at the regional integration and trade cooperation morning ministerial panel discussion of the first day of AIM Conference on May 1st, 2012 with ministers of economy, industry and trade representing Argentina, Ghana, South Korea, Turkey and UAE.
The key concern for prospective investors (institutional, corporate or individual) lies in the improvement of investment returns, the crucial challenge remains availability of critical statistics to help get acquainted with countries’ sovereign risks. Structured finance aimed at assessing the viability of foreign investors’ transactions plays a major role in view of the growing interest in FDI as mean to finance the development of emerging markets and more importantly supporting growth in high potential countries.
Wafaa Sobhy, Chairman of ANIMA Investment Network stressed the importance of FDI flows in Mediterranean countries as she assessed and evaluated her region’s FDI flows and prospects.
“In 2010 developing countries received over 50% of the global FDI inflows and generated record levels of FDI outflows. This illustrates how key these countries have become for the vitality of the global economy. They not only represent new growing markets, they propose new business and productive approaches, new opportunities with the capacity to mobilize financing means. ANIMA is very proud to take part in the organisation of the Annual Investment Meeting in Dubai, by bringing businesses and countries willing to engage in sustainable partnerships with investors. The new Mediterranean is going to reinvent its relationship with its neighbors, for the benefit of its peoples, and being in Dubai at AIM shall be a milestone in this process.”
Illustrating these trends, Jordan Investment Board and Chamber of Commerce, Invest in Morocco and the new transitional government of Tunisia have joined AIM to present the reality of the post-Arab spring economic directions as well as a the envisioned investment climate carried out by the newly established authorities.
The ongoing fierce competition among the countries to attract foreign capital has forced countries to drastically rethink their strategies and ground their investment promotion on core corporate principles and corporate governance. Strategic planning, intensive branding, marketing, targeted promotion, ROI assessment have become essential for transition economies survival and ability to engineer long-term growth.
Re-engineering long term growth is a reality that CIS countries, heavily represented at AIM 2012, are currently implementing, with the guidance and support of established agencies and advisory organizations.
With its commitment to innovation, quality and leadership, Grant Thornton has established a strong presence in the Republic of Azerbaijan and all over the CIS region, which warrant its support of AIM in highlighting financing options and emphasizing trading possibilities in frontier and emerging markets with a strong focus on high growth sectors. According to Grant Thornton, Azerbaijan is today’s leading economy in the CIS region being considered an important gateway to East Turkey, Russia and even further to Kazakhstan and China and investment potentials are vast welcoming creations of business networks and strategic commercial alignments. A comprehensive study and feasibility plan with tangible success stories (i.e.: the winning of Qatar as host of the 2020 World Cup) designed to showcase the roadmap to enhancement of CIS countries attractiveness will be presented at the event by a combination of policy makers, business leaders from the public and private sector led by Grant Thornton.
The AIM has garnered a strong international support as it main feature being a thought leadership Conference and bound to become the one and only regional tribune for world renowned industrialists and key stakeholders to share their know-how, devise innovative strategies for reliable investment planning and explore opportunities stemming from the continuous shift in the world economic order.
The conference speakers’ faculty counts His Excellency Rustam Nurgaliyevich Minnikhanov, President, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, the third most important and economically viable independent state of Russia and whose capital city Kazan is a UNESCO World Heritage. The President of Tatarstan will be returning for the second time to AIM 2012 to further the cooperation and trade initiatives engaged in 2011. Alongside Tatarstan, Chechnya and Chelyabinsk region will also present their investable project and investment potential to AIM investors.
Along the Asian shores, ASEAN Countries will once again be heavily represented with the participation of Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, Thailand, in addition to South Korea, India and whose governments have committed to present their respective country forthcoming economic development plans and ability to maintain their leading position in the regional race for competitiveness.
Reeling from the most disruptive public finance crisis in the Eurozone, Greece, Poland, Czech Republic, Cyprus and Turkey will also share their perspectives on how to rebuild foreign investors’ confidence in their local markets and recollect on strategies and policies aimed at protecting capital holders and stimulating inward investments in their economies.
Reinforcing the prominence of the Caribbean in the global race for market share and top spots for investments, the AIM Conference has confirmed the presence of the Ms. Patricia Francis, Secretary General of the International Trade Center who will assess and evaluate how emerging markets balance FDI/Trade relationship, causality analysis, developmental outcome and future prospects.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, a handful of resource-rich countries have turned into key destinations for high return investments. Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Kenya ministries of trade and industry will head public and private sector delegations at AIM 2012 in a bid to further promote Sub-Saharan Africa as a long-term viable economic hub and alternative for capital holders.
From the banking and investment community, Simon Lue-Fong, head of Emerging Markets Debt at Pictet, James Wolfensohn, former CEO of the World Bank and Jerome Alan Reid from Forward Funds will weigh in to propose their perspective on how emerging economies are reshaping global investment inflows and outflows. They will share their views on key investment trends and policies and provide valuable insight on key growth sectors and markets to watch.
His Excellency Abdulla Mohamed Saleh, Governor of Dubai Financial Centre will ponder on the strategic positioning of the UAE at the forefront of the global financial markets map and synergies created in the MENA region with the coherent and regulatory compliant state of Dubai’s financial markets.