Dubai World Secretary-General addresses prestigious SFOA gathering on opening day
Dubai’s vision of economic integration, with its focus on economic diversification, and new clusters of wealth and knowledge creation, is the driving force behind the emirate’s tremendous growth.
This was stated by Mr. Farid Mohammad Ahmed, Secretary-General, Dubai World, during his speech today at the opening of the 28th Swiss Futures and Options Association Burgenstock Meeting being held in Montreux, Switzerland, from September 5th to 8th, 2007.
Dubai was chosen as the guest of honour at the meeting, reinforcing its eminent position in the global derivatives market, with Dubai World subsidiary Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) and its joint venture initiative Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) leading the participation of the emirate. Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (ESCA) is also representing Dubai at the meeting.
‘Our vision of economic integration is truly global. This embrace of the promise of globalisation was a conscious choice that was also born of necessity,’ Mr. Farid Mohammad Ahmed said.
Pointing out that trade through Dubai represented 80 percent of the UAE’s $233 billion foreign trade recorded in 2006, investments in Dubai’s real estate sector alone currently stand at an estimated US$200 billion, and that the emirate’s GDP grew by almost 9.5 per cent last year, with even higher growth rates anticipated in the years ahead, Mr. Farid attributed the ‘Dubai Miracle’ to the visionary leadership of Dubai.
‘Dubai’s leaders have had the vision to see its inherent strengths, and the courage to act on them.
‘If we have a single person to thank … it is His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. Sheikh Mohammad continued the work begun by his late father, Sheikh Rashid, who set out to build a modern, diversified economy in the emirate.’
Speaking about Dubai World, Mr. Farid Mohammad Ahmed said that Dubai World’s diverse investment portfolio, which extends across 100 different cities across the globe, ‘reflects in small measure’ the diversification policies of the emirate of Dubai.
‘Our city’s collective optimism and ambition is contained in the company’s very name: Dubai World,’ he said.
Participants at the three-day international meeting come from all over the world and are political and economic leaders, seniors from the major international stock and derivatives exchanges, regulatory bodies and association leaders, top executives from international brokerage firms, and senior executives from banks and investment management firms.
Also present were senior representatives from the servicing industry as well as brokers and traders involved in the international derivatives and equities markets.
