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Industrialists’ Conference “Foreign Direct Investment in GCC and its Impact on Industry”
14 October 2015

A press conference held in Kuwait today announces the 15th
 
 
The Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC), Kuwait’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Public Authority for Industry (PAI) held a press conference to announce the 15th Industrialists’ Conference “Foreign Direct Investment in GCC and its Impact on Industry” held at the Sheraton Hotel, Kuwait, on the 25th and 26th of November 2015 under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait, and with the participation of GCC ministers of industry.

The press conference took place on Tuesday, October 13, 2015 at PAI Headquarters’ main conference room on the ground floor. The speakers were Mr. Mohammed Fahad Al-Ajmi, acting director-general of the Public Authority for Industry (PAI) and member of GOIC’s board in Kuwait and HE Mr. Abdulaziz Bin Hamad Al-Ageel, Secretary General of GOIC.

The press conference started with the address of HE Mr. Mohammed Fahad Al-Ajmi, acting director-general of the Public Authority for Industry (PAI) and member of GOIC’s board. Mr. Al-Ajmi announced the launching of the 15th Industrialists’ Conference events in collaboration with GOIC. He expressed his deepest gratitude to His Highness the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah for supporting common Gulf endeavours to achieve economic development and boost the industrial sector in the GCC.

Mr. Al-Ajmi said: “GCC countries achieved huge financial surpluses as a result of the increase of the prices of oil and gas, the two main income sources for the GCC countries’ GDPs. The countries’ balances of payments had surpluses exceeding the volumes of cash reserves and foreign investments. Foreign investments are necessary, not only for their financial capital, but also because they bring in advanced technologies, research and development, knowledge industries, promotion, organisation and innovative administration in various production and services fields. The ultimate objective is to back Gulf industries through state-of-the-art technologies to become reasonably competitive and strengthen global networking in value and demand chains.”

His Excellency added: “A steering committee has been formed, in addition to technical, organisation and media committees, to follow up the execution of various events bringing together local and Gulf industrial representatives. Invitations were sent to a number of industrial and economic experts to take part in this conference by presenting papers and attending sessions relating to the industrial and economic sectors in Kuwait and other countries. There will be 28 elite speakers during five sessions for two days, in addition to a parallel exhibition for the sponsors.”
Mr. Al-Ajmi invited all interested parties to register and follow the latest news via www.incge.com.

He concluded by expressing his deepest gratitude to the sponsors wishing the conference great success to achieve the objectives aiming at improving the investment environment, overcoming obstacles hindering foreign investments and implementing the recommendations of the conference.

GOIC Secretary General HE Mr. Abdulaziz Bin Hamad Al-Ageel delivered a speech in which he said that GOIC has been working since 1985 to periodically hold Gulf industrialists’ conferences and is currently putting the finishing touches to launch the 15th Industrialists’ Conference “Foreign Direct Investment in the GCC and its Impact on Industry” under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait in Kuwait on the 25th and 26th of November 2015.

Al-Ageel said GOIC is deploying relentless efforts to prepare for this conference in cooperation and coordination with organising entities in the State of Kuwait, notably the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Public Authority for Industry (PAI). To do so, GOIC is also cooperating with the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority (KDIPA), Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Industrial Bank of Kuwait, and coordinating with the Secretariat General of the Cooperating Council for the Arab States of the Gulf and the Federation of GCC Chambers (FGCCC).

Al-Ageel stressed that “organising bodies seek to achieve objectives such as determining clear policies to stimulate development in GCC countries based on a comprehensive set of elements drawing foreign investors. The conference seeks to build an ambitious strategy to develop and promote the industrial sector in order to attract more foreign investments. Furthermore, it aims at enacting legislations and laws and offering facilitations and incentives to foreign investors in order to create a promising investment environment.”
GOIC Secretary General added: “GCC countries have been attracting many foreign investments throughout the previous years, which resulted in several success stories.
 
Nevertheless, the results remain below ambitions, and GCC countries are seeking to benefit from global experiences to build local capacities, acquire technical expertise, stimulate the economy and boost growth and development. Indeed, many of these objectives can be achieved through the flow of foreign investments to the region. However, the investment environment in the GCC faces numerous economic, legal and legislative challenges hampering foreign investments in the region.”
According to Mr. Al-Ageel, that was why GOIC decided to choose “Foreign Direct Investment in GCC and its Impact on Industry” as the general theme of the 15th Industrialists’ Conference.

Furthermore, GOIC Secretary General stated that UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2015 revealed that there was a continued recession of FDIs in 2014, even in oil-rich GCC countries, a primary destination for FDIs in the region. Nevertheless, these countries have witnessed a sturdy economic growth in recent years. In fact, according to UNCTAD’s Global FDI Index, GCC countries are receiving less investments than estimated. Therefore, Mr. Al-Ageel said GCC countries can seize the current opportunity to attract more FDIs.

Mr. Al-Ageel talked in details about the various themes of the conference aiming at tackling different FDI issues. In this regard, the first theme, “the current status, development and incentives of foreign investments in GCC countries”, aims at examining the main features of foreign investments in terms of size, contribution to GDPs and competitiveness. Its goal is also to carry out a technical assessment of current investments in GCC industries in terms of their relative importance compared to overall investments and their technological contributions. This theme will also analyse the distribution of foreign investments and their size in terms of economic activities, including industrial activities, and determine their trends, returns and impacts on investors and targeted countries.

The second theme, “the role of foreign investments and their impact on GCC economies”, examines case studies about countries similar to GCC countries that were capable of promoting their industries to reach advanced levels based on technology, advanced administration, research and development and foreign direct investments in their national industries.

The conference will also tackle the role of the private sector and SMEs in drawing foreign direct investments. This theme highlights the capacity of the private sector and SMEs to create new opportunities to attract foreign direct investments and work on developing good governance in doing business and investing in sustainable development.
It will also discuss preparing and improving GCC’s investment environment through studies legislations, fiscal and monetary policies, institutions, financing, free zones, industrial cities, specialised industrial areas, investment infrastructure (transport, storage, telecommunications, roads, seaports, airports, electricity, water etc.), procedures and ease of doing business.
 

In addition to that, the conference will tackle foreign investments in the industrial sector and their role in developing knowledge and transferring technology, detailing the most important industrial activities with high comparative advantages requiring technology and researches and foreign direct investment companies markets, particularly knowledge-based industries with exporting capacities.
Mr. Al-Ageel concluded: “We hope to see this conference resulting in recommendations and suggestions aiming at improving the investment environment and overcoming obstacles hindering foreign investments. We hope to see foreign investments in line with GCC strategic plans and serving GCC development interests. To maximise the benefit from these investments, main pillars of industrial investment roadmaps should be determined. We will spare no effort to meet the expectations from the 15th Industrialists’ Conference and we hope it will accomplish its objectives for the best of our beloved countries and to stimulate economic and industrial development in particular.”
 

The official website of the 15th Industrialists’ Conference was also launched during the press conference, and then a dialogue took place between organisers and journalists.

 


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