An Address from the UAE Minister of Investment & MD, GCEO of ADQ

[Music] good morning everyone thank you for coming thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak today no pressure I'm not a great public speaker my brother is in the crowd which makes it even worse so uh thank you for coming I promise to keep it short and sweet I won't waste too much of your time or ramble too much in the next 5 minutes I hope to share a vision of what this week will look like ahead and what you should expect to get out of it I also hope to establish a baseline of why Abu Dhabi and why the UAE welcome to abudhabi finance week this is the third edition and within a very short period of time I must say that to achieve 20,000 guests in a three-year period that is phenomenal but for the UAE that's considered a very long time 3 years in a span of 50 years is nothing with 20,000 people present from 100 countries this recognized as the best event or high or highest attended event in the history of a finance event in the Middle East previous discussions in these events in the abudhabi Arenas have shaped the future of abudhabi and shaped part of the world over the next 4 days you will have a chance to hear 630 speakers you will have the opportunity to participate in 65 sessions remember each of these sessions will make a difference and so please contribute this week will impact individuals companies sectors and ultimately the global economy ideas of collaboration born right here in ababi will shape the world welcome to the capital of capital abudhabi has always welcomed people from all over the world more importantly it has been the birthplace of some of the largest Sovereign funds in the world and some of the most active Sovereign funds also some of the most active financial institutions and financial investors for decades abudhabi has been a net exporter but in the last decade we've witnessed a shift in the tide in the last decade we've seen a 300% increase in FDI to ababi we've seen hundreds of thousands of New Economic licenses issued over the last decade we've seen adx become one of the largest and most active markets in the region we've seen Abu Dhabi emerge with as a global asset manager with over a 100 asset managers based out of it today ababi can proudly say within its City it manages $2.5 trillion doll out of the city which means there's substantial amount of talent within the city also as you heard this morning adgm stands adgm stands as one of the largest financial real estate uh markets in the world but the world around us is in flux the world is on a cost of change in capital flows Capital comes from new destinations going into new directions and new uh Investments more is mobilized for different reasons than what we used to see than what we traditionally know for economic surplus traditionally invested in uh abroad has now moved to local markets by onshoring global central banks reserves are diminishing or growing at slower rates we have seen sharp increases in capital flowing to New Growth markets which were not precedently seen before we've seen a 71% increase in Sovereign funds globally and we expect that number to continue to grow 2024 was no less of a challenge uh and significant impact to our world a lot has happened and it's time for us to adapt and embrace this change Abu zabi is primed and ready to navigate this turbulence today Capital goes where it is treated well and stays where it is welcome that is ababi capital wants to be in a place where there's consistency and predictability that is abudhabi capital wants to be in a place where dreams are big and delivered that is ABI Capital wants to access great infrastructure talent and enriched lifestyle which is abui capital wants to bear near capital that's ABI so welcome to the capital of ABI welcome to the capital of capital thank you very much [Music]