Qatar Investment Authority CEO, H E Mansour Al Mahmoud (second right) with other officials during the panel discussion, yesterday.
Doha, Qatar: The first day of the Qatar Economic Forum (QEF) 2023 witnessed an eye-opener into several industries including banking, investments, and fostering the global economic outlook.
During the session entitled ‘Creating a Long-Term Investment Strategy’, experts discussed the evolving market trends, the crisis in the banking industry, and investment strategies among others.
The panelists included H E Mansour Al Mahmoud, CEO of Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Dina Powell McCormick, Global Head of Sustainability & Inclusive Growth, Global Head of Sovereign Business at Goldman Sachs, and Bill Winters, Group Chief Executive, Standard Chartered, and was moderated by John Micklethwait, Editor in Chief at Bloomberg.
H E Al Mahmoud stressed the rapidly changing markets globally, which is a significant issue that needs to be considered while investing, and the pivotal role QIA as an institution plays in supporting firms worldwide.
He said: “The regional investment that we have is governed by a long-term vision that we have whether it’s the US market or Europe. When I say America, we also talking about China, India, and Brazil for example. For each one of them, you need to have your source of a process and assessment to identify opportunities. So for example the rhythm that we are investing in technology in China and India would be a little more with than the rhythm we are investing in technology in Brazil. So each market will have its characteristic to identify some of the opportunities that you will deploy.”
Having invested in organisations such as the Adani Group, H E Al Mahmoud said that although there has been a continuing crisis and struggles in the global market, he believes that the group will come through all the challenges. He also noted that QIA has been investing in Artificial Intelligence (AI) in addition to the latest technologies that have propelled.
Speaking about Qatar as a progressive and developing country in the region, H E Al Mahmoud remarked that “For hosting the World Cup, we have built an infrastructure that wasn’t planned 30 years before and we built it in 10 years. Now the mindset is about how to utilize the infrastructure. QIA as an institution can play in the local market strengthening and contributing towards the growth of the economy.”
Goldman Sachs executive Dina Powell McCormick praised Qatar’s wise leadership for “thinking about their future generation” and for giving opportunities like the QEF that provide in-depth insights on broader industries.
McCormick explicated that the investments implemented by entities such as QIA makes a huge impact on the global economy. She said: “Sovereign wealth funds for many decades have been unique investing platforms. They are very reliable, consistent, and long-term thinkers. That is very important but they also have been an innovative capital provider. So when you think about Artificial Intelligence and life sciences, we think about green and renewable. Interestingly, it has been the gulf countries with His Excellency’s leadership at QIA and other sovereign wealth funds that have led the investments around renewable, green, and finer transitions.”
Bill Winters, CEO of Standard Chartered outlined the banking industry crisis and how well-capitalised it is as everyone is looking at the liquidity profile. He added, “I think we are pretty much done with the crisis phase but I don’t think we are done with the need for an ongoing transformation. What exactly makes a financial center is having a world-class investor, a strong regulatory environment, and an open economy and Qatar is doing extraordinary in this
regard."
