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ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — As the United Arab Emirates builds a national museum with soaring structures reminiscent of a soaring falcon, the tiny oil-rich nation is soaring as it seeks to double its gross domestic product. Doubling down, negotiating more than two dozen foreign trade deals, and taking a leading role in mitigating climate change.
The UAE’s top financial executives carried the message last week at the Investopia x SALT conference, where Khaldoon Al Mubarak, managing director of the $232 billion Mubadala sovereign wealth fund, cited government plans to reduce GDP doubled to AED 3 trillion (US$ 817 billion).
“We’re driving economic growth,” he told an audience of about 2,000 investors at the luxurious Yas Island Hilton resort near Abu Dhabi’s Formula 1 circuit. “We are continually collaborating to strengthen our position in the world as the destination of choice for entrepreneurs, innovators and investors.”
The invitation-only conference, aimed at promoting the UAE to money managers from around the world through its Investopia platform, is co-sponsored by SALT, an investor networking forum founded by Anthony Scaramucci, best known for his short tenure as White Trump Speaker of the House of Representatives during the administration. Scaramucci, co-founder of New York-based SkyBridge Capital, has cultivated a role that opens doors for investors looking for business partners in the Bay Area.his salt [SkyBridge Alternative] Investment conferences are held regularly in New York and Singapore.
“One thing I love about this country is that they always say to themselves: what’s next?” Scaramucci said in his opening remarks, sitting on stage with UAE Economy Minister Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri. “I think it’s a place where international investors feel very comfortable.”
Scaramucci also gave a shout-out to Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi, who blasted off Thursday for a six-month mission to the International Space Station. The UAE is creating a space craze for its orbiting native son. Along the Yas Island waterfront, attendees strolled in the warm night air and took pictures of each other under the arms of 14-foot-tall astronaut statues that lined the café-lined promenade.
Al Marri used the event to launch “Investopia Marketplace”, an outreach event targeting venture capitalists and angel investors, institutional investors, large investment funds, sovereign wealth funds, family investment offices and banks. The initiative aims to promote international cooperation with the UAE in areas such as renewable energy, healthcare, transportation, logistics, agriculture and financial technology.
“We want to open up the world for businesses to think about what kind of trade they want to do in terms of products and services,” Al Marri said at the conference.
Drawing attention to agreements signed over the past year with Israel, India and Indonesia that helped boost foreign trade to a record $599 billion last year, the minister said the UAE was negotiating a similar agreement with 23 countries, called the Comprehensive Economy Partnership agreement or CEPAS other countries. The latest agreement was signed with Türkiye on Friday.
Al Marri also expressed hope that his country will make progress on tackling global warming when it hosts the COP28 United Nations climate conference later this year. “We may have conflicts in other areas, but we all come together on this topic.”
The UAE has embarked on a broad effort to expand its international profile as a haven for investment, technology, cryptocurrencies, cultural sophistication and religious tolerance. Last month, it opened the Abraham Family House interfaith complex, which includes a mosque, a church and a synagogue, with a reported $500 million government contribution. Next to the compound, under construction are the Guggenheim Museum and the Abu Dhabi branch of the Zayed National Museum, whose massive winged shape was inspired by the falcon, the UAE’s official emblem.
Among the hundreds of companies attending the Abu Dhabi conference was Israel’s Liquidity Group, a fintech firm that announced during the event that it plans to invest $500 million this year in startups in the UAE and across the MENA region. Liquidity, based in Tel Aviv and New York, opened its R&D center last year at the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) Technology Center in the UAE capital.
Speaking at the conference, Liquidity CEO Ron Daniel said: “We are committed to providing entrepreneurs with fast and flexible capital so they can realize their growth ambitions and contribute to the UAE’s thriving tech ecosystem and dynamic global entrepreneurs, VC firms and accelerator communities.” In response, Dhaher bin Dhaher Al Mheiri, CEO of ADGM Authority, said: “As relations between the UAE and Israel continue to develop, especially in the technology sector, we believe that Liquidity The Group’s expertise and experience will play a key role in promoting innovation and growth in both countries.”
For Scaramucci, the meeting is part of his efforts to recover from losses from the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX in November. Founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who bought a 30 percent stake in SkyBridge two months ago, was arrested at his headquarters in the Bahamas on Dec. 12 and charged in the United States with eight federal counts of fraud and money laundering, he said. innocent.
Scaramucci, who brought Bankman-Fried to the SALT conference in New York last September, made a widely publicized appearance, saying he was duped by cryptocurrency traders despite extensive due diligence on the business.The former White House official was fired by former President Donald Trump after 11 days on the job new yorkeris producing a podcast about the FTX debacle called “Cryptocurrency Stories.”
“What Sam did was so horrific and destructive that I made a six-episode podcast to describe exactly what he did from my perspective,” Scaramucci told circuit During an interview between meetings. “Okay, so that’s not objective. That’s my point of view and my window into what he did, because if I could save a guy from going through what SkyBridge had to go through because of what Sam did, that would be is beneficial.”
Scaramucci said he also needed to pick himself up after his short stint in the White House.
“Trump fired me at the time and it looked terrible, but it turned out really well,” Scaramucci said. “It raised my profile and gave me the opportunity to speak out against him when he acted like a jerk. It inspired me and created more business relationships for me. I don’t regret it at all.”
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