UAE’s Bin Touq heads to India in search of investment opportunity
UAE Minister of Economy Abdullah bin Touq headed to India with a bevy of Emirati business leaders in tow as the world’s most populous nation looms ever larger as a magnet for sovereign investment.
Bin Touq is leading a trade delegation that will engage with top government officials and corporate chieftains in India, which is the UAE’s third largest trade partner.
The tour, which will feature a business conference on Wednesday in the framework of the UAE’s Investopia Global Talks, follows reciprocal visits to each other’s country this year by UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The UAE is far from alone in courting India. An analysis by U.S.-based Invesco found that 88% of sovereign wealth funds, including all of those in the Middle East, consider the Indian subcontinent to be the most attractive target for investment among emerging markets.
The report notes the interest Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih expressed last year in establishing a branch of the Public Investment Fund in India’s Gujarat International Finance Tec-City and channeling capital to Indian startups.
Also steering investment decisions are the winds of war roaring through Lebanon, Israel, Gaza and the Red Sea, according to Invesco, which found that 95% of the region’s sovereign wealth fund managers see geopolitical tensions as the most serious risk to economic growth over the coming 12 months.
UAE’s Al Marri plays ‘father of the bride’ at Investopia
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – Surveying the thousands of investors and business leaders rubbing shoulders at the Investopia conference in Abu Dhabi, UAE Minister of Economy Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri said he felt like “the father of the bride” at a wedding. “I just want to make sure everyone is happy and well fed,” he told The Circuit’s Kelsey Warner this morning.
Keeping participants comfortable at the third edition of Investopia, which the Minister chairs, is a fairly light lift, with the St. Regis resort on Saadiyat Island offering a backdrop of swaying palm trees and turquoise waters.
Engaging them is another matter as the confab aims to also drive investment into fast-growing sectors like technology, capital markets and tourism to the UAE.
Al Marri has said that by the 2030s, the UAE will “take the number one position globally in the development of proactive legislation for new economic sectors.”
Funds that manage a total of more than $500 billion in assets are attending, according to organizers. Top of mind and regularly popping up in conversation for the largely American crowd are the implications of an election year in the U.S. and the direction of interest rates.
Al Marri, for his part, expressed his desire for lower rates to spur investment: “There will be a movement of capital that will [boost] investments into new areas and move the economy forward. So we hope that can happen by this year,” he said.
Bin Touq: BRICS membership will bring new investment to UAE
DAVOS, Switzerland – Entry into the expanded bloc of BRICS countries will enable the United Arab Emirates to strengthen links with trading partners in the Southern Hemisphere and reap new investment, UAE Minister of Economy Abdullah bin Touq told a World Economic Forum audience on Thursday in Davos.
“I think that’s something where the UAE can play a role… in the engagement on the global level when it comes to BRICS,” the minister said during a panel discussion. “This engagement brings a lot of investment as well.”
The trading bloc, originally comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, voted last August to invite the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia to join, starting Jan. 1. Saudi Arabia is reportedly still mulling the decision.
