Dubai: Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the UAE is expected to grow by 20 per cent this year to $14.4 billion from $12 billion in 2013, Abdullah Al Saleh, Undersecretary of the UAE Ministry of Economy, Foreign Trade Sector, told media on Thursday.
He was speaking on the sidelines of a press conference to announce the 4th Annual Investment Meeting (AIM), to be held in Dubai from April 8 to 10 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Al Saleh said that the FDI in the UAE has tripled between 2009 ($4 billion) and 2013.
Al Saleh attributed this to growth across all sectors. He added that winning the bid for Expo 2020 is increasing the appetite of the world investors to invest in the UAE.
“UAE is the third most attractive Arab country for FDI while, with the total FDI inflow to the country representing 48 per cent of the total GCC FDI, according to a 2012 report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development [Unctad],” Al Saleh said.
Al Saleh also said that the outflow of UAE’s investments witnessed a remarkable increase of around 36 per cent since 2009, the year of the global financial crisis.
“The investments made by the country abroad are estimated at $3.6 billion up from $2.7 billion in 2009,” he added.
The UAE today is considered among the top ten promising foreign investors in the world during 2014-2015 while it ranks fourth in the developing world, according to Al Saleh.
“UAE’s foreign investments is considered the most sustainable investments in the world and UAE is the third country in terms of the size of investments in the African continent,” he said.
Al Saleh also said that the UAE foreign trade is expected to grow 20 per cent in 2013. “In the UAE, the economy is back on the growth path, thanks to a balanced national strategy based on our comparative advantages and supportive policies toward entrepreneurship and private sector development. Increased government spending and a significant resurgence in tourism, transport and trade has contributed to this upswing,” Al Saleh said.
Annual Investment Meeting:
Al Saleh said that the fourth edition of the meeting comes at a time when the UAE has moved to the forefront as a key investment destination globally backed by its unique features and advantages like its strategic location, logistics infrastructure, high flexibility and increase inflow of foreign investment.
AIM will see Dawood Al Shezawi, CEO of AIM’s organising committee, reviewing a host of investment options and share practices with focus on simplifying and maximising investments in emerging countries.
The event is expected to see participation of over 10,000 senior officials from the UAE and the world.
