Dubai: The second annual Dubai Investment Forum 2016 opened on Tuesday to bring together public and private sector leaders to trace Dubai’s new growth cycle during which it aims to be among the smartest and most sustainable cities in the world.
Prominent growth initiatives and new investment opportunities arising in Dubai in light of the Expo 2020 as well as the emirate’s potential in enabling business development and expansion to wider regional markets were in focus at the one-day forum. Foreign direct investment into Dubai increase of 16 per cent in new projects in 2015, to 279 projects, up from 240 in 2014. Dubai has already attracted new FDI worth Dh17.7 billion in the first half of this year.
Shaikh Maktoum Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, attended the forum which was opened under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council.
Shaikh Maktoum, along with Sami Al Qamzi, Director-General of DED, and Fahd Al Gergawi, CEO of Dubai FDI, reviewed the ‘FDI Readiness 2021’ model, a future-driven policy agenda for Dubai.
The model offers an integrated strategic framework for investment-related policy-making and assessing the impact of initiatives and projects in attracting investment, based on global indices and comparative statistics.
An ‘International sustainable Investment Centre’ was also launched at the summit to play a key role in sustainable investment and sustainable development globally. The centre will seek to build a regional network for sustainable investment in the Middle East and North Africa, while also launching programmes to reinforce the leadership of Dubai, and the UAE in general, as a regional and global platform for sharing ideas, experiences and best practices. In partnership with the private sector, the centre will also focus on developing individual and institutional capacities to enhance Dubai’s position as an investment destination and global hub for advancing sustainability and attracting FDI into sustainability initiatives.
