AIM 2020 to highlight the need for innovative strategies to address global economic challenges

The 10th edition of the Annual Investment Meeting (AIM 2020), will highlight the changing global investment landscape and the need to develop work mechanisms and innovative investment strategies that help facilitate FDI flows into global economies, to promote sustainable economic growth, particularly in light of the global FDI decline under the growing global economic risks, rising protectionist trends and trade tensions. Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, AIM 2020, the world’s leading investment platform, will take place at Dubai World Trade Centre from March 24-26, 2020. The three-day event, themed ‘Investing for the Future: Shaping the Global Investment Strategies’, aims to chart a roadmap towards a more flexible and advanced global economy, by linking FDI opportunities to emerging economies, to ensuring sustainable economic growth and further achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Commenting on the global FDI landscape, H.E Abdullah Al Saleh, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy for Foreign Trade and Industry, said, “This is an issue of high importance, particularly in light of the FDI decline according to the UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2019, which shows that global FDI flows slipped by 13 per cent in 2018 to $103 trillion from $105 trillion in 2017, for the third consecutive annual decline. Nevertheless, the weak underlying FDI trend indicates that a rise in FDI may be relatively modest and may be further reined in by other factors, such as geopolitical risk, escalating trade tensions and a global shift towards more protectionist policies.”

“Relaxing foreign ownership rules is a further measure to liberalise and strengthen the investment environment and will be a critical step in the development of new sectors and industries. The key goal of our new policies is to open and expand economic sectors, attract new investors and cement the global competitiveness of our national economy,” Al Saleh added.