Staff Report Published: June 07, 2009, 23:21
Dubai: Dubai Group, the diversified financial services company of Dubai Holding, announced yesterday that its objective as a strategic partner of the forthcoming World Economic Forum (WEF) Africa 2009 is to promote the debate on how foreign direct investment can be boosted to achieve sustainable economic development in Africa.
Dubai Group will be promoting the growth of Africa’s partnerships with the Middle East as global markets recover. Executive Chairman of Dubai Group Soud Ba’alawy will also be holding the distinguished role as co-chair of the forum.
The 2009 meetings will take place on Wednesday-Friday in Cape Town, South Africa and will be attended by over 700 government and business leaders.
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“As a strategic partner of WEF, the role of Dubai Group is to foster interaction and debate among governments, business leaders and other WEF participants regarding the impact of the global financial crisis on Africa.
“We will examine the key drivers for economic development in the continent and how to achieve and maintain sustainable long-term growth. Ultimately, this will involve developing strategic initiatives to attract foreign direct investment into the continent,” Ba’alawy said.
Alongside Ba’alawy as co-chairs of the conference will be: Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General and Member of the WEF’s Foundation Board; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, managing director or World Bank; Jiang Jianqing, chairman of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China; and Graham Mackay, chief executive of SABMiller.
In this role as a co-chair, Ba’alawy will bring to the conference Dubai Group’s extensive investment experience in Africa. Dubai Group has interests in various companies across the continent, in a range of economic sectors including telecoms, finance and infrastructure.
Ba’alawy will concentrate on two themes at the meeting: Macroeconomic shifts in the global agenda, the economic crisis and its impact on Africa; and economic priorities and the business environment.
Dubai Group is upbeat on the future of Africa’s economic development. Ba’alawy commented: “In the last ten years, African economies have grown on average nearly six per cent per annum, taking advantage of the rapid global economic development, their young populations, and the growing domestic demand for goods and services.
“The current financial crisis has affected African economies, and a lot has to be done to get the region back on a growth trajectory. This underlines the importance of the WEF Africa 2009 meetings to explore how to restore FDI.”
