Dubai Group chief to address Africa-Asia-Americas Business Summit in Mauritius

He will be speaking at the Swami Vivekananda International Convention Centre in Pailles, Mauritius on 17-18 March to promote south-south partnerships.

Dubai Group, one of the leading diversified finances services company of Dubai Holding plays a vital role in investing in emerging markets. Mr Ba'alaway will share his views and experiences with the gathered government ministers and business leaders.

Prime Minister of Mauritius, Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam, Prime Minister of Mauritius will open the summit addressing over 300 delegates including trade and finance ministers and business leaders from China, India, Brazil and Africa.

Speaking about the Summit, CBC Director General Dr Mohan Kaul said, "We are delighted to hold the Africa-Americas-Asia Business Summit in Mauritius which has successfully transformed itself from being a monocrop economy, depending mainly on sugar to have diversified into textile and apparel industry, tourism, IT and financial services. It is equipped with a highly skilled labour force andvery good infrastructure thereby attracting Foreign Direct Investment both from developed and emerging markets."

Welcoming the opportunity to hold the Summit, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Rama Krishna Sithanen said, "The South-South partnership can leverage the new dynamism generated by India, China, Brazil and South Africa to achieve greater movements of goods and services, people, capital, expertise, knowledge and ideas among developing countries. This will be critical to ensure that global growth is widely shared among all regions and countries of the world. In fact, by addressing key issues like trade, investment, sustainable development, and investment in infrastructure and renewable energy, the SS partnership will be able to foster collective actions that will add to and enhance individual countries' development strategies."

"Mauritius is an ideal choice to host a dialogue on South-South Cooperation with its geographical location and historical ties with both Asia and Africa," Dr Kaul added. "In terms of south-south trade flows we are seeing some encouraging signs. The expansion of FDI from these new source economies has attracted some interest, especially from a number of investment promotion agencies (IPAs). More than 90% of African IPAs currently target FDI from other developing countries, notably from within their own region.

Developed-country IPAs have also set up local offices in places such as Brazil, China, India, the Republic of Korea, Singapore and South Africa.
"From the home country perspective, there is growing recognition that outward FDI can strengthen the competitiveness of firms. Only a handful of developing countries retain outright bans on outward FDI. According to the UNCTAD report, the expansion of FDI from developing countries is particularly relevant for South-South cooperation. Excluding offshore financial centres, total South-South flows shot up from $2bn in 1985 to $60bn in 2004, or 25% of all FDI inflows to developing countries. The potential to increase south-south trade is immense."

"There is no doubt that as Brazil, India and China continue on their growth path, there will be tremendous opportunities to strengthen South-South partnership. Africa will have to position itself to participate fully in that powerful economic restructuring that is burgeoning. The prospects for more South-South partnerships to increase trade and cross border investment and to strengthen cooperation in the widest possible areas are greater than ever before," added Mr Sithanen.

"We must have sustainable trade. Trade that grows because of preferential access is one thing. But intra regional and in a wider context, South-South trade that grows due to improvement in income levels and in global competitiveness is more sustainable. I would much rather think that as a country Mauritius is able to export to India, China, Brazil, South Africa or any other country not because of lower tariffs or preferential access but because we are globally competitive," he concluded.

The Summit will address key policy issues on how emerging nations can increase investment in-flows, trade and also capacity in sectors that allow them to create a sustainable competitive advantage especially energy. It will also address the important subject of infrastructure Development and in particular how developing countries may finance it.