Despite the decline in greenfield foreign direct investment, FDI, globally at the beginning of 2020 due to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Dubai has maintained its leading position among the top three global FDI destinations during the first five months of the year, according to Financial Times fDi Markets data.
“Dubai ranked second globally in greenfield FDI capital flows and third globally in the number of FDI projects. The Dubai FDI Monitor preliminary data for this period recorded 155 newly announced FDI projects with more than AED10 billion of expected capital,” said Fahad Al Gergawi, Chief Executive Officer, Dubai Investment Development Agency, and President of the World Association for Investment Promotion Agencies, WAIPA, during an interview with CNBC on Dubai’s performance in attracting foreign direct investment, FDI, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“One of the key positive indicators which represent a global vote of confidence from investors is the sustained FDI flows into Dubai-based startups, which exceeded AED700 million during the same period. Dubai is the only city in the MENA region featured among the top 20 most popular destinations for venture capital investments according to fDi Markets’ Global Venture Capital FDI Ranking 2020 report,” he added..
Speaking about the efforts to attract FDI in the current circumstances, Al Gergawi revealed that Dubai FDI has launched a series of Virtual Investment Promotion Missions in cooperation with investment promotion partners around the world, relevant Dubai Government departments and Free Zones in Dubai, to support the growth and expansion of FDI into Healthcare, Logistics, e-Commerce, Digital Economy and new sectors such as food and AgriTech which are seeing increasing interest from global investors.
Al Gergawi pointed out that Dubai ranked seventh globally in the ‘FDI Aerospace Cities of the Future 2020/2021’ report issued recently by the Financial Times’ FDI Markets, and ranked second in FDI performance in the sector, which is a testimony to the diverse and attractive investment opportunities offered by Dubai.
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