11 December, 2015: Under the patronage of His Highness the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Kuwait Direct Investment Authority (KDIPA) participated in the 15th Industrialists’ Conference under the theme: “Foreign Direct Investment in GCC and its Impact on Industry” held in Kuwait Sheraton November 25 -26, 2015. The conference was organized by the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC), in cooperation with KDIPA as well as several other government entities, the private sector, and local and GCC industrial unions. The conference represented a distinguished industrial gathering composed of several GCC ministers of industry and trade, high ranking officials, and leaders of the business community. The conference covered an opening session and six other main sessions. KDIPA took part in the conference as its Director General Dr. Meshaal Jaber Al Ahmad Al Sabah chaired the ministerial session under the theme “FDI importance for industrial development in the GCC”, whereby he stated that the GCC as a region has an increasing investment attractiveness, as they attracted a total FDI inflows of $ 22 billion from a global total of $ 1.23 trillion. He indicated that the GCC’s FDI inflows share is apt to increase with more projects expected under their development plans in various industrial sectors in the years to come. In his turn, Sheikh Abdullah Sabah Al Sabah, Head of Licensing & Investment Registry at KDIPA provided a presentation in the first session entitled “FDI in GCC Reality, Prospects, and Incentives” displaying the recent developments in FDI globally and in the GCC, its role in technology transfer to achieve the diversification of the GCC economies, enhance the creation of competitive industrial clusters, supporting innovation based industries, and the leading developmental and promotional role of investment promotion agencies like KDIPA in achieving this end. KDIPA took part in the accompanied exhibition whereby KDIPA’s team distributed marketing material and responded to incoming inquiries. The conference concluded raising several recommendations that aimed at advancing the industrial sector in the GCC, supporting leading industrial projects, improving the investment climate, in order to attain the aspired developmental goals, and encourage the formulation of favorable policies that support investment in crucial industrial sectors like pharmaceuticals, food industries, petrochemical, aviation, and railways, as well as encourage industrial SMEs.
