Concluded NUSACC’s David Hamod, “There is no question that our nation’s security is paramount. But strong commitments to homeland security do not justify double standards or racial discrimination toward foreign investors. If our country cannot abide by rules consistently, and if we cannot adhere to a single standard that applies to all, then savvy investors will simply take their money elsewhere.” Assessing the Fallout In the aftermath of the DP World debacle, H.E. Sheikha Lubna Al-Qasimi, the UAE’s Economy Minister, visited Washington to assess the fallout. With support from NUSACC, the UAE Embassy hosted a luncheon for select U.S. business leaders. During that visit, Sheikha Lubna discussed the short-term damage that the DP World affair had done to U.S.-UAE investment relations, but she predicted that the long-term impact would be tempered by the huge scale of investment opportunities in the UAE and the United States.
She highlighted the key role that the UAE has played in combating money-laundering, gathering intelligence on terrorists, and supporting U.S. military efforts in the region. She pointed out that the UAE was the first
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Arab nation to participate in the Container Security Initiative (CSI) with the United States and that some 600 U.S. Navy ships dock at Jebel Ali port in Dubai every year. Sheikha Lubna noted that UAE business leaders are investing around the globe at unprecedented levels and that the United States is up against tough competition – from developed nations in the European Union and Australia, and from emerging markets like China and India. Egypt Overhauls Its Investment Codes In April, NUSACC held a roundtable discussion at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel for high-level investors and H.E. Mahmoud Mohieldin, Egypt’s Investment Minister. With the creation of this new ministry, Mohieldin noted, Egypt is sending a signal that it is undertaking the reforms necessary to make Egypt one of the top investment destinations in the region.
With the guidance of Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and his team, Egypt is experiencing some of its most extensive economic reform in the past 50 years. Red tape is being slashed, corruption is being curbed, foreign direct investment (FDI) is on the rise, and imports from the United States jumped almost 30 percent in 2006 – despite the absence of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States.
Mohieldin touted his ministry’s new “one stop shop” that coordinates among 34 government agencies – allowing foreigners to launch a business in Egypt in 72 hours, down from 140 days in the year 2000. More than 150 state-run companies in Egypt are in the process of privatization, and personal and corporate income taxes have been trimmed to 20 percent across-the-board. |
Qatar: Enriching the Region’s NUSACC supported a major conference in Doha organized by Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the UCLA’s Ronald Burkle Center for International Relations. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, a keynote speaker at this conference on “Enriching the Economic Future of the Middle East,” called on governments in the region to expand their infrastructural and capital investment in economic sectors beyond oil and gas. H.E. Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr Al-Thani, Qatar’s Foreign Minister, noted that “in the end, we should acknowledge that the economic and social stability which is necessary for realizing the economic growth of the area is tightly connected to the realization of political stability in such countries.” David Hamod, NUSACC’s President & CEO, served as Chairman of the business working group, which placed a high priority on regulations that support a strong investment environment. The first recommendation of that working group was to reduce regulatory processes, with more access to capital, protection of property rights, and greater application of the rule of law by an independent judiciary. In the same spirit of creating a solid investment environment in the region, Hamod called for a knowledge-based society with improved entrepreneurial education, training, and job opportunities to include women and create Arab venture capitalists. »
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5 US-Arab Tradeline • 2006: The Year in Review