Dr. Fatima AL Arabi participated in “Sovereign Wealth and Private Equity Funds & Sustainable Investment Strategies” session, in The Annual Investment Meeting (AIM), 2018 held in Dubai under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashed Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai and His Excellency Eng. Sultan Al Mansouri Minister of Economy.
Said session aimed at better understanding how Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF’s) and Private Equity Funds incorporate Sustainable Development Goals into their investment strategies. Which Sustainable Development trends are important for them, how they develop their investment strategies with a focus on sustainability, which objectives they have in selecting these investment projects and what are KPIs benchmark.
Dr Fatima spoke about Socially Responsible Investments (SRIs) and Sustainability which are in fact embedded in Islamic Finance code of ethics. She mentioned few examples like equal and fair pay, workers’ rights, symmetry of information, investments in socially responsible investments with tangible underlying.
Dr. Fatima recommended that SWFs, due to their size and bargaining power, should implement and ask companies they invest in, to produce, Ethical Balance Sheets, with ratios and KPIs that measure, R.O.E ( Return on Education), R.O.I.I (Return on Individual Improvement), E.O.P (eradication of poverty) and so forth.
Plenary Session Five: “How to Compete for Investment in industry 4.0”
Dr. Fatima spoke about the competition among countries, regions and cities to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) with a high degree of value and innovation, particularly in the Financial sector. She spoke about the challenges that countries will face and what needs to be implemented to become an attractive location for Industry 4.0-related activities and successfully attracting FDI in this field.
