Over 300 business and political leaders attended the event, including several ministers, top government executives, investors and CEOs….reports Asian Lite News
The fourth International Conference for Francophone Investors (“FIEF”) was held in the Dead Sea in Jordan, under the patronage of His Majesty, King Abdullah II of Jordan
Over 300 business and political leaders attended the event, including several ministers, top government executives, investors and CEOs.
H.E. Kholoud Al Saqqaf, the Jordanian Minister of Investment delivered a speech during the opening session. She recalled the strong historical ties between France, French-speaking countries and Jordan. She also described the new opportunities offered to foreign investors in the Kingdom.
Over 50 speakers gave their analysis and shared their experience in various fields such as energy, investments, tourism, entrepreneurship, women empowerment and international trade.
A session was dedicated to the strategy of Investment funds in the Middle East. Among the speakers, Houssam Nasrawin, Managing Partner of the Paris based advisory firm Orous Capital, underlined the major role played by institutional investors from the GCC, and mainly the Sovereign Wealth Funds (‘’SWFs’’) and Pension funds, to invest in foreign markets.
Despite 2021 and 2022 having been challenging years due to geopolitical issues, increase of interest rates and high inflation, the GCC SWFs have played a major role in the financing of European and North American markets, driven by the capital injections from high oil revenues. The investment amounts in Western economies has doubled between 2021 and 2022, reaching above 50 bn USD.
The session was followed by an overview of the ecosystem of family offices in the GCC, emphasizing the challenges that they will face in the coming years, mainly in terms of succession and new economic slowdown. The role of family offices will increase in investments in private equity, which now represents a significant part of their portfolio allocation. According to Houssam Nasrawin, there is a need for stronger ties between GCC Family Offices and European entities, including companies and Private Equity firms (GPs) to provide access to new capital.
The conference was closed with the signing of an MOU between the French union of employers CPME Nationale and the Jordanian Businessmen Association.
B2B meetings were held in the days after between companies.