Reuters Sponsors Global Wealth Conference in Dubai

The three-day event will kick-start in Dubai on Tuesday May 14 and is expected to attract more than 1300 delegates. It will be inaugurated by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance and Industry.

His Excellency Rafic Al-Hariri, Lebanese Prime Minister and one of the leading global investors, will deliver the keynote address. Other dignitaries include His Excellency Dr Kemal Dervis, Turkish State Minister of Economy and His Excellency Ahmed Lahlimi Alami, Moroccan Minister of Social Economy for Small and Medium Contracts Traditional Industries and in charge of the Government General Affairs, both of whom will address the forum. The ministers will discuss how to successfully revitalise an economy through structural reform and new contexts for contracts in the globalisation process. Also attending will be His Excellency Dr Mohammad Al-Ghamrawi, Chairman of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones in Egypt.

Over 48 financial institutions and banks from around 20 countries, including Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Morocco, Italy, USA, France, UK, and Pakistan, are taking part in this congregation.

Speakers at the Forum will include Dr Khalid BelKhoutout from the Casablanca Stock Exchange and Market, who will discuss the protection of investors in emerging securities markets, Gill James, Chief Economist MESA at Standard Chartered Bank who will talk about the challenges of globalisation for emerging markets and Wissam Khoury, Risk Management Specialist from Reuters, a leading global provider of financial information, news and technology solutions, who will discuss risk management under the Basel II Accord. More than 380 delegates are expected to attend the Forum.

"Regional financial institutions need to prepare themselves for stricter risk management which will be brought forth by the Basel II Accord in 2005. Now is the time to start working on compliance with this upcoming world standard, which follows from the 1988 Basel I Accord. Banks need to adopt certain standards and systems that will help them migrate smoothly to Basel II."

Security markets and stock exchanges from Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Muscat, Amman, and Morocco will all be present at the exhibition.

Atif Al-Tayieb, Executive President of Itlala, the organizers of the event, said; "The tremendous response we had from the financial industry confirms that the Middle East region has maintained its key position as a major player in world economy despite the current political and economic environment. The event has attracted financial experts, bankers and investors from East to West; Hong Kong, USA, France, Italy, the UK, El-Gabon, Lybia, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Iran, to name but a few."

ENDS