Dubai govt agency says to explore investment opportunities in China this yr

HONG KONG (AFX) - An agency of the Dubai government said it will look into investment opportunities in China this year and possibly draw up a list of suitable investment targets early next year.

Saeed Al Muntafiq, director general of the Dubai Development and Investment Authority (DDIA), told a media briefing that the agency will focus on Dubai's core strengths or development expertise in its search for potential investment opportunities in China.

These core competencies include technology, finance and real estate, leisure and tourism, media and health care, he said.

'We intend to spend the course of this year studying China's investment landscape and potential returns, with the assistance of our friends in Hong Kong, and hopefully draw up early next year a list of potential investment targets,' he said.

At the same time, the DDIA will also introduce to foreign investors opportunities for investment in Dubai, he said.

The DDIA today opened an office in Hong Kong, the agency's first outside Dubai.

It plans to open more overseas offices over the next two years, including one in New York and another in London, which will be tasked primarily to generate foreign investments into key areas of Dubai's economy, including finance and real estate, leisure and tourism and technology.

'Like Hong Kong, Dubai is strategically located in the sense that it serves as a gateway to the Middle East, Africa and other parts of that region,' he said.

'Investors from Hong Kong and China should find investments in Dubai attractive in the sense that in the past 10 years, the average return that foreign investors in Dubai's key sectors made was between 20-25 pct,' he said.

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