DIFC Week, the Dubai International Financial Centre's (DIFC) prestigious annual series of business conferences, concluded today with industry leaders urging the GCC region to take advantage of the many opportunities that will emerge as conditions improve. 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.
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.
HE Dr. Omar Bin Sulaiman, Governor of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Vice Chairman of the UAE Central Bank, said: "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."
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.
DIFC Week Key Quotes;
The four-day event featured over 70 speakers from the world's major international markets, 21 separate sessions, and a televised debate on how to get confidence back in the global financial markets.
The DIFC Family Summit, held in association with the Tharawat Family Business Forum, provided a platform for the mutual exchange of knowledge and insights on management, growth, continuity, strategy and other business related topics. The Summit, attended by 75 leading Arab families and their representatives from the Middle East region, focused on the global market turmoil and the importance of making a rational and realistic assessment of the situation in order to make good investment.
The DIFC Forum, which took place on Monday 24 and Tuesday 25 November, witnessed a series of debates between analysts and business leaders from across the region and the world on the key issues facing the region.
The Forum opened by looking at the economic outlook for the world and the GCC in 2009. It covered a number of major topics and tackled critical issues that determine the GCC's future such as: the significance of foreign investment attraction and its value, the next generation of Islamic Finance, opportunities and obstacles facing women in business in the Gulf, energy geopolitics in an era of structural change and the emerging business of energy alternatives.
Key speakers reaffirmed that Dubai will take every possible measure to safeguard itself from the global financial crisis and that the government is able to meet its debt obligation. They also added that the Emirate's real estate sector is witnessing a healthy correction and that the Dubai Advisory Council, acting in cooperation with them as well as other private developers, is managing the current and future supply of new projects onto the market.
DIFC Week closed with a Conference on 26 November entitled: 'The Inside Track on Dubai' which highlighted the "upside of the downside" of doing business in the UAE and was divided into commercial and legal/regulatory sessions that included panel and teaching discussions. Furthermore, it featured exhibitions by service providers from DIFC and Dubai's broader business community.
DIFC Week is proud to be supported by its Platinum Sponsors including Deutsche Bank and Abraaj Capital, and Sponsors who include Itau Securities and Goldman Sachs. In addition, the DIFC Week Conference is sponsored by Alvarez & Marsal, Conyers, Dill & Pearman, Emirates NBD, Grant Thornton, HAYS, International Compliance Training (ICT) Middle East, Kershaw Leonard, Latham and Watkins, M: Communications, Norton Rose and Union Properties while the DIFC Week Gala Networking Reception is sponsored by Sungard. The DIFC Summit is run in association with the Tharawat Family Business Forum.
DIFC Week is also grateful for the active support and involvement of its Knowledge Partners who include Al Tamimi & Company, British Business Group, DIFC Centre of Excellence, Oxford Analytica, Simmons & Simmons, Young Arab Leaders, and DNM connect; its Media Partners which are, AME Info, Arabian Business,, Al Arabiya News Channel, CNBC, Dow Jones, Dubai Eye, Financial News, The Times, The Sunday Times, SAB Media, The Wall Street Journal, Oxford Business Group and Zawya; as well as DIFC Week's Joint Marketing Partner, Dubai Corporate Counsel Group..
In addition, DIFC Week also expresses its gratitude to Itau Securities, the Sponsors of the DIFC Week Golf Championships.
To find out more information about the Summit, Forum and Conference which took place at DIFC Week, visit www.difcweek.ae