The MENASA Forum

MENASA - the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia - is home to 29% of the world's population and produces a combined GDP of more than 4.5 trillion USD. What are the scenarios for development of the area in the short and medium term? What are the comparative advantages and disadvantages of the UAE as a trade and investment partner and, in this light, how should the Emirates prioritize this area?

In the aftermath of the financial crisis, as global financial centres look at ways to renew investor confidence, what are the real prospects for the DIFC? What's infrastructure, tolerance, universal language and transparency got to do with it? What are the lessons learned (if any) to improve investor confidence?

While all were hit by the global downturn, some MENASA capital markets fared better than others in the financial meltdown. What are the lessons to be learned from the experience about regulation of the banking sector and the role of regulatory restraint? About governance and investor protection? About financial intermediation and diversification? Are these lessons being taken on board yet in different countries in a sufficiently robust way? What does this tell us about the financial scene in different parts of the region going forward?

MENASA's infrastructure opportunities appear huge and growing, with governments from India to Algeria investing in roads, airports, power, sewage, hospitals, schools and universities, ports and telecommunications systems. But beyond the headlines, what has the turmoil in international financial markets meant for ongoing and new project finance? What role can Private Equity assume in the financing of regional projects? What legal impediments prevent greater involvement of private capital? How can Gulf countries gear up their project finance and delivery capabilities to match potential demand? And for countries like India with large fiscal deficits, how can they finance the next phases of their infrastructure improvements?

Has Islamic finance gone mainstream? Events such as the IFC's Sukuk listing on Nasdaq-Dubai certainly point in this direction. Yet the development of Islamic capital markets must still face some real challenges, among them the lack of tools for hedging for Islamic financial institutions and consumers; issues of transparency and disclosure; fundraising, especially with non-Muslim investors and on equity markets; and the legal infrastructure for Sharia-compliant loans and questions of insolvency regimes, loan recovery and asset restructuring. What are the latest innovations and developments in the field? And what do they tell us about the likely trajectory of commercial success for Islamic products in key sectors such as energy and infrastructure? In emerging markets such as Europe?

Home to 29% of the world's population and in the midst of unprecedented economic development, MENASA's already-substantial energy needs are going to grow markedly over the next 20-30 years. What does the region need to do to meet this demand? How can it become one of the major energy exporters of the future? The energy trading center for the world? Leading voices from within and outside MENASA discuss what the region could achieve, and the commitments and strategies required for global future energy leadership. What will stay the same and what could change?

2010 is supposed to be the year in which financial authorities hammer out a new global order for how banks and markets work. So, almost half way into 2010, are sufficiently strict limits on leverage emerging? Have derivatives, called "financial weapons of mass destruction" by certain regulators, been brought into the regulatory system in a workable fashion? And are liquidity requirements robust enough to protect against bank failure? In short, will the system be rebuilt?

What are some of the challenges brought by the global downturn to the development model which underly the strategies of leading Gulf investment companies? What is the view of MENASA countries and the MENASA area from this perspective? How could partners like Egypt, Pakistan, and India improve their prospects for receiving investment from Gulf investors?