Powerful UAE investor Al Dhaheri in town

Thursday, 4 July 2013 00:31 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Al Dhaheri a Director in largest sovereign fund in the world
“June UAE promotional tour bearing fruit”: Musthapha
UAE investments in SL crosses $ 400 m

The United Arab Emirates biz sector, whose investments in Sri Lanka have topped $ 400 m, continues to be bullish on the country. “The economic and investment cooperation between UAE and Sri Lanka is becoming stronger and stronger. My June meeting with the Abu Dhabi Chamber is bringing in results. Renewable energy and green technologies have picked up the interest of visiting UAE investor Saoud Arar Al Dhaheri,” said Deputy Minister of Investment Promotion Faiszer Musthapha yesterday.

Musthapha said this as his team was busy making arrangements to receive two leading members of the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry to Colombo last night. The visiting UAE investors are Omair Saoud Arar Al Dhaheri, the Chairman of Midein Energy of UAE, and Luciano Giangiordano, a Director of Green Technology at Midein Energy LLC. Al Dhaheri, a serial entrepreneur, shaped major real estate and development deals in both emerging and developed markets and was responsible for continuously expanding a successful global real estate portfolio for two decades as the Director of Real Estate Department of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world. Al Dhaheri runs more than a dozen companies operating in financial services, construction, building material supplies, transportation and real estate management and is a Board Member of the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce. Giangiordano, a Director of Green Technology at Midein Energy, is an experienced professional in energy management and in solar power (including in China). Al Dhaheri and Giangiordano are scheduled to meet Deputy Minister Musthapha and other top Government officials during their visit to Colombo. UAE is the largest GCC trade partner to Sri Lanka. As at end of 2011, 22 UAE firms have actively invested $ 448.6 million in Sri Lanka, of which $ 16.5 million consisted of Sri Lankan equity. In 2010 alone, the UAE, the largest foreign direct investor in Sri Lanka among GCC economies, invested $ 66 million in Sri Lanka. It already has the bilateral Double Tax Avoidance Agreement with Sri Lanka and has also expressed its keenness to sign a Bilateral Investment Protection Agreements (BIPA) with Sri Lanka. During his June 2013 visit to UAE’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Deputy Minister Musthapha met top members of the chamber and had discussions – amongst them were Rashed S.J. Al Suwaidi, Omair S. Bin Arrar Daheri, Chairman Omair S. Al Dhaheri and Deputy Director General Helal M. Bin Fadel Al Hameli, in addition to several other members of the chamber.