Luxembourg Strengthens Investment Ties With Gulf States
Thursday, February 02, 2012
Luxembourg’s Finance Minister Luc Frieden has recently conducted working
visits to Qatar and to Dubai to strengthen economic and political ties and to
promote the Luxembourg financial centre.
During the course of both visits, the Luxembourg finance minister opened seminars
focussing on the opportunities for cooperation between the Luxembourg financial
centre and the financial centres of Qatar and Dubai, highlighting to a large
audience of investors and local financial stakeholders the diversity and expertise
of the Luxembourg financial centre in a European and international context.
The Luxembourg government underscores in its release that the aim of the seminars
was to consolidate the link between Luxembourg and the two important financial
centres of the region, noting that in that spirit of strengthened cooperation,
Luxembourg had already recently signed bilateral agreements with the Qatar Financial
Centre (QFC) and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).
According to the Luxembourg government, the business opportunities in the financial
field are numerous, notably as regards investment projects, both in Doha (Qatar)
and Dubai. In return, Luxembourg’s diverse and international financial centre constitutes
an essential gateway to the European market for actors in the Middle East, the
government said. Luxembourg is Europe's largest investment fund centre and the sector continued to expand in 2011 despite the eurozone crisis and declines in major stock indices. The number of funds in Luxembourg rose by 4.84% to 3,833 and net sales amounted to EUR16.998bn (USD22bn) in 2011. While total assets under management (AUM) decreased over the period by EUR101.453bn, mainly as a result of market depreciation, total assets under management were still a steady EUR2 trillion, second globally only to the US.As a key part of the Luxembourg financial centre and economy, the funds industry now employs over 43,000 people, working directly for Luxembourg financial sector companies and many more working for non-financial companies.
In Qatar, Luxembourg’s Finance Minister Frieden also held talks with
his Qatari counterpart Youssef Hussain Kamal, with the discussions centring
on the global and European economic situation, as well as on bilateral business
relations between the two countries. |
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