Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri

Investopia 2023 will launch its newly innovative investment platform ‘Marketplace’, with the aim of enhancing the UAE attractiveness to foreign investments. 
 
Investments are targeted in various economic and commercial sectors, in particular the new economy sectors. Besides, the Marketplace aims to position the UAE as a leading investment destination at the regional and global level. 
 
The launch will take place during the 2nd edition of Investopia conference from March 2 to 3 in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi. 
 
Flexible policies
Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy and Chairman of Investopia, said the UAE has pursued competitive and flexible investment policies that have been instrumental in enhancing its investment climate and positioning it as a prominent player on the global investment map.
 
He highlighted that the Marketplace platform supports the UAE's ambitious vision ‘We the UAE 2031’, which aims to establish the country as a leading global partner and a desirable and influential economic centre by providing new investment opportunities and enablers to business communities through a single portal, which enhances the country's appeal to potential investors and supports the national target of doubling the country's gross domestic product to reach AED3 trillion ($820 billion) by 2031."
 
Investopia Marketplace is open to members of the Investopia community, including local, regional, and global partners, venture capitalists and angel investors, institutional investors, large investment funds, sovereign wealth funds, family investment offices, and banks.  
 
New economy
The platform provides opportunities in all promising sectors of the new economy such as renewable energy, healthcare, transportation, logistics, agricultural and financial technology, and other promising new sectors that benefit from technology and innovation and lead growth in the next decade in the UAE, which contributes to increasing the flow of investments towards future projects and sectors. 
 
Investopia will also support the UAE objectives on the international level, in particular through supporting its green growth agenda, and work on spurring international investments in sustainable and environment-friendly projects.  
 
Investopia will engage and work closely with its strategic partners and industry leaders, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), SALT, Crypto.com, and iConnections to develop this newly launched platform. 
 
The platform will allow companies from the public and private sectors, institutions, governments, and investors from Investopia communities worldwide to explore and invest in opportunities, including the cities which hosted Investopia’s Global Talks like New York, Milan, Rabat, New Delhi, Mumbai, Cairo, Havana, and others.
 
Investment projects
Within the platform’s working mechanism, companies, institutions and governments are guaranteed to present their investment projects and opportunities, sectors, locations, stages, goals, and the capital needed for the project. In turn, Investopia communities of investors and partners review projects and choose the ones that are suitable for their portfolios and investment strategies. 
 
The Marketplace currently includes various investment projects proposed by many countries around the world, particularly in the energy sector such as hydropower, and projects in agriculture from Kyrgyzstan. In addition, there are projects in sectors such as energy and electricity from Romania. 
Investopia adopts an ambitious target of accelerating the pace of attracting investments to the country and attracting AED550 billion of inward foreign direct investment to the country by 2031, reaching AED1 trillion by 2051.
 
Foreign direct investments in the country are witnessing continuous growth, as the UAE attracted foreign direct investments worth $20.7 billion in 2021, with a growth rate of 4% from 2020, positioning the UAE in the first place in West Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.
 
It is expected that foreign direct investment inflows to the country will reach $22 billion in 2022, which represents 4.3% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the national economy, according to a report issued by the Institute of International Finance. This reflects the confidence of investors and businessmen in the UAE as a global destination for investment and trade.-- TradeArabia News Service