Gulf states to discuss industrial investment

Hundreds of officials and businessmen from the UAE and other Gulf oil producers will gather in Qatar in November to discuss new manufacturing projects and ways to secure funding amid tigh-tening credit conditions.

Officials described the November 22 to 24 conference and exhibition in Doha as the biggest event in the industrial history of the GCC and the first after the eruption of the global financial turmoil. The announcement of the event came as new statistics by a key GCC industrial group showed the combined investment in non-oil manufacturing projects in the six member states surged by 18 per cent to exceed $150 billion (Dh551bn) at the end of 2008.

“Manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, investors and buyers will meet to identify and build on the opportunities created by the new economic environment,” the Doha-based Gulf Organisation for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) said in a statement to announce the event under the patronage of Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

“The world faces today the challenges of massive credit shortages in the financial markets, and as mature markets see their economies contract, many investors are turning again to the industrial sectors. Furthermore, all the governments within Gulf are looking to diversify their industries and are allocating subsidies and cheap feedstock on the basis of specialist technologies,” said GOIC, which co-ordinates the non-oil industrial policies of the GCC.

Citing independent estimates, GOIC said the combined gross domestic product of the GCC is expected to record real growth of about 2.4 per cent in 2009 despite the global economic crisis and the sharp fall in oil prices and output.

“Driven by a solid demand from private and public sectors alike, the GCC and the Middle East industrial sector is experiencing an unprecedented development, providing leadership and investment for developing region-based industries and investing in overseas technologies and production facilities,” it said.

“This new economic environment is creating unrivaled sales, investment and subcontracting opportunities. The 12th Industrialists Conference and the Exhibition of Industrial Subcontracting and Partnership will address them.”

 

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