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GCC 'better resourced than others'
DIFC Week, the Dubai International Financial Centre's prestigious annual series of business conferences, ended yesterday with industry leaders urging the GCC to take advantage of the many opportunities that will emerge as conditions improve.
- Staff Report
- Published: 00:02 November 27, 2008
Dubai: DIFC Week, the Dubai International Financial Centre's prestigious annual series of business conferences, ended yesterday with industry leaders urging the GCC to take advantage of the many opportunities that will emerge as conditions improve.
"Emerging markets may not dominate the global economy, but we will have a world where economic power is more widely shared. We will have a situation where all the economies will have a stake in the table."
Dr. Kevin W. Lu, Director and Chief Financial Officer, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, The World Bank Group.
The consensus among speakers at DIFC Week was that the region was better resourced than most other parts of the world to weather the global slowdown.
Good business value
"The current financial crisis may provide several opportunities for family businesses to make investments both globally and regionally. In investing, family businesses should focus on good business value," Dr Omar Bin Sulaiman, governor of the Dubai International Financial Centre and vice-chairman of the UAE Central Bank, said in a statement.
"As long as an investment is a good deal today, it will eventually bring good returns. The global economic cycle will turn and when it turns, it will be a wise and good investment," Over 500 international business leaders and policymakers from more than 30 countries in the GCC region and across the world met in Dubai to discuss the opportunities and critical challenges facing the region in the midst of the global economic crisis.
Fundamental solutions
"Over the past four days we've seen a series of highly insightful discussions about business in the Middle East. We've covered a wide range of fundamental issues and heard many different perspectives, and what is clear is that the region is well positioned to deal with the current financial crisis and there will continue to be many opportunities for growth," he said.
Central issues debated during the week included the vital role of family businesses in the economy and how the global financial crisis can be an opportunity for investments, Dubai's ability to meet its debt obligations, governments' responses to new pressures on financial markets, structuring the regulatory framework for Islamic finance, energy geopolitics, emerging markets in and after the financial crisis and how to get confidence back in the global financial markets.
"If you have liquidity, this is a good time to invest. Good value will always be good value. Even if the value of your asset goes down in the next one or two years, it will bring benefits in the long term."
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