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Founded in 1992, the World Pension Forum hosts various conferences around the world to help US pension fund managers make knowledgeable investment decisions and allocate funds to potential investment destinations.
The World Pension Forum in the Middle East will include more than 80 participants from the US, as well as government officials and senior executives of leading UAE companies.
The forum will facilitate the development of long term partnerships between the funds and the Middle East.
The forum aims to offer insight into the new patterns of global trade and people flows, the expanded role of sovereign wealth, and the erection of first-class infrastructure.
The event will also give UAE-based companies an opportunity to share their success stories with the delegates.
Soud Ba'alawy, Executive Chairman, Dubai Group said:
"Dubai Group is proud to host the first World Pension Forum in the Middle East, and welcomes investors from around the world to promote better information exchange in the financial services industry. Given the current scenario worldwide, this forum comes as a timely event and will offer key insights into our financial markets, particularly the role that this region is playing in the global economy. Organizations such as the World Pension Forum provide opportunities to foster long term partnerships and open doors for business opportunities around the world. WPF pursues a shared vision with Dubai Group to bridge capital flows between the East and the West."
Philip Schaefer, President of the World Pension Forum said: "We are thrilled to be bringing our delegation of institutional investors to the United Arab Emirates for the first time. The region has shown what can be accomplished with dynamic, visionary leadership. We plan to return often."
Over the past few years, pension funds and other Western institutional investors have been eagerly exploring opportunities in the Middle East to capitalize on the region's extraordinary growth story.
Investors that are members of the World Pension Forum include CalPERS, CalSTRS, the Kennedy Family Trust, New York State Teacher's Retirement System as well as major state pension funds and foundations.
In January 2008, The Economist reported that Morgan Stanley estimates pension funds worldwide hold over $20tr in assets, the largest for any category of investor ahead of mutual funds, insurance companies, currency reserves, sovereign wealth funds, hedge funds, or private equity.
Posted by Ehab Al-Abbadi
