Abu Dhabi: Mubadala Investment Company confirmed on Tuesday it is still planning to publicly list Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) in 2018, saying it is a good time to go the market.

Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, chief executive officer of Mubadala, the state investor that owns half of EGA, said that a timing for the listing is yet to be finalised as that will depend on market conditions.

His comments are a reiteration of those made in late 2017 about plans for an initial public offering of EGA, which Al Mubarak called on Tuesday “a big success story”.

The CEO of Mubadala made the comments at the Global Financial Markets Forum, which kicked off in Abu Dhabi. Al Mubarak also said in a speech that the region and world now face “a new set of challenges and opportunities either through disruptive technologies and Bitcoin or as a result of macroeconomic factors”.

The forum, now in its ninth edition, brings together prominent speakers and market movers to share perspectives on major economic challenges facing the world.

Other speakers include Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and group CEO of Adnoc; and Abdul Hamid Saeed, group CEO of First Abu Dhabi Bank. Also speaking at the event are the UAE’s Minister of Energy, central bank governors from the UAE, Kuwait, and Egypt, and various other economists.

Former British Prime Minister David Cameron will take the stage on Tuesday for a panel discussion.