JEDDAH – Emerging markets and states in transition in 2013 accounted for 60.5 percent of the FDI flows and 54.0 percent of cross-border mergers and acquisitions, FDI Intelligence said in its report. Global emerging markets are poised to grow by 50 percent over the next 5 years, according to the report. The report, which was launched at the opening of the 4th annual investment meeting of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Tuesday in order to spur FDI (foreign direct investments) inward and outward of the UAE and other emerging markets in the world, said China would expand its leading role in FDI and foreign trade relations in the emerging world. UAE Minister of Economy Sultan Al-Mansouri urged the emerging markets to strive for political stability, good governance and to remove legal roadblocks which limit foreign trade and foreign direct investment. He said the UAE saw its GDP (gross domestic product) increasing by 4 percent last year and that the Gulf state was poised to grow by 4.5 percent in Y 2014, according to the IMF. More than 50 percent of the GDP growth in the UAE was driven by non-crude oil sectors such as trade, logistics, tourism, construction and manufacturing. According to the UAE Ministry of Foreign Trade, the Gulf state is poised to attract $14.4 billion in FDI in 2014, which would translate into a 20 percent Y-Y increase. The minister urged them to bank on the positive momentum foreign direct investments have gained in the emerging markets following the global financial crisis. Around 100 delegates from Chinese provinces attend, along with dozens of African, East Asian and Latin American countries, most of them running country pavilions in the adjacent exhibition halls of Dubai World Trade Center. — SG
