Overview
19th Asia Bond Markets Summit - Middle East Edition
Embracing the future
05 September 2024 | Abu Dhabi | St Regis Abu Dhabi (Corniche St)
Overview

The economic transformation of the Middle East is accelerating. Driven by several factors such as economic diversification, regional integration, digital revolution, and regulatory reforms, they are setting the course shifting the trajectory into the future irretrievably. From their dependence on oil and gas revenues, the region is increasing its focus to sectors such as tourism, technology, renewable energy, and manufacturing. This will create new opportunities for capital raising and investment across various industries and asset classes. GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) IPO activities for example have remained relatively active in 2023 across both the public and private sectors with increased investors’ awareness on the region’s potential.

Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, showcases this shift. In the second quarter of 2023, it posted a GDP growth of 3.5% compared with the same period in 2022. Yet its non-oil economy expanded by 12.3% to top US$42 billion, the highest level it has achieved since 2014. In the first half of 2023, Abu Dhabi’s non-oil GDP expanded by 9.2% compared with a year ago, according to The Statistics Center – Abu Dhabi.

Moreover, the Middle East is becoming more interconnected through initiatives such as the GCC common market and the Belt and Road Initiative. These developments are adding to the growing trade, investment, and cooperation among the region’s economies and with other regions such as Asia and Africa. These are the megatrends of the coming decades. The rise of emerging markets’ portfolio flows encapsulated in the growing links between investors in the Middle East and Asia are underpinning new corridors of cooperation for business, commerce, finance and investing. The launch of the first exchange-traded fund covering Saudi Arabia and listed on the Hong Kong Exchange in November 2023 is yet another milestone of this accelerating trend.

Supporting the rapid change is the rise of the Middle East capital markets. Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul for example is now ranked the sixth largest across EMEA with a market capitalization of over US$1 trillion as at the end of September 2023. Together with the markets of Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Istanbul, they represent nearly 14% of the market capitalization of EMEA. One area that is set to make its mark is Islamic finance. Its growth holds much promise as issuers look at issuing Islamic bonds (sukuks) to support their growth prospects. Sukuk issuances was up nearly 53% to US$6.7 billion in the first half of the year. Overall, UAE’s debt capital market has crossed US$250 billion in size. Sukuk listed on Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul tops close to US$300 billion.

With the hosting of COP28 in the UAE, the expansion of the debt capital market is boosted by activity in ESG and sustainability debt instruments. In 2022, the GCC green and sustainable bond/sukuk market hit a record high of US$8.5 billion from 15 deals led by financial institutions, according to data from Bloomberg, from US$605 million in 2021. While the gradual adoption of AAOFI (Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions) Standard 59 has dampened foreign-currency sukuk issuance in the UAE, it has conversely opened opportunities to develop the local currency sukuk market as a fundraising channel.

Given the rapid pace of change underway, and the growing interest in the Middle East-Asia corridor, The Asset is pleased to host the Asia Bond Market Summit, Middle East edition in Abu Dhabi. The Summit intends to shine the spotlight on the rise of the emerging markets, the pivotal position of the Middle East highlighting how the capital markets are developing in the GCC, the emergence of ESG and sustainability, what investors are seeing, and what needs to be done to further support growth.

Organized in association with the Asian Development Bank, the summit is the longest-running continuous fixed income event which brings together issuers, investors, policymakers and other stakeholders involved in Asia’s bond markets.

Agenda
05 September 2024
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10:00 AM
Registration and coffee
10:30 AM
Welcome remarks
Daniel Yu
Daniel Yu
editor-in-chief
The Asset
10:40 AM
Plenary keynote address
Jugeshinder Singh
Jugeshinder Singh
group CFO
Adani Group
11:00 AM
Panel one: Expanding corridor: Middle East–Asia connect

The fast-evolving trade and investment links between the two regions is spurring business activity and cooperation across various sectors beyond the traditional oil and gas trade. As the Middle East especially the Gulf Cooperation Council continues to diversify and modernize their economies, expect to see a further strengthening of ties with Asia’s leading companies especially in technology-driven, service-oriented industries and the burgeoning investment in infrastructure.

  • What is behind the growth of the Middle East-Asia corridor?
  • Which countries/sectors are attracting the most interest?
  • How are sovereign wealth funds approaching investments into Asia?
  • What challenges need to be addressed to further strengthen ties?
  • How is the infrastructure build-out attracting companies to explore opportunities in the region?
Darren Stipe
Darren Stipe
head of funding
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
Redwan Ahmed
Redwan Ahmed
senior vice president and head of investor relations
DP World
Kenny Kitamura
Kenny Kitamura
chief representative for the Middle East
Japan Bank for International Cooperation
Iva Hamel
Iva Hamel
resident representative, United Arab Emirates
World Bank
Daniel Yu (moderator)
Daniel Yu (moderator)
editor-in-chief
The Asset
11:50 AM
Panel two: ESG and the capital markets

With its goal to diversify its economic activity, the Middle East is seeing new impetus among companies to build sustainability into their business strategies. An important indication of this is access to the capital markets. Members of the GCC, in particular, have stepped up their focus on sustainability following the hosting by the United Arab Emirates of COP28 a year ago. The region’s capital markets’ development is already incorporating a number of ESG initiatives aligned with national strategies to achieve sustainability and economic diversification in the coming decades.

  • How is the expanding Middle East-Asia corridor helping to accelerate the two region’s pathway to Net Zero?
  • What are forthcoming among the exchanges in the region to support the development of sustainable capital markets?
  • What types of green, social or sustainable bonds and new investment products being planned in the coming 12 months?
  • What benefits are companies enjoying in tapping green-labelled bonds and loans?
  • How are these ESG-linked bonds helping to drive investors’ interest in the Middle East capital markets?
Razvan Dumitrescu
Razvan Dumitrescu
head of sustainable finance
Emirates NBD Capital
Karim Adouane
Karim Adouane
head of fixed income
Invest AD
Alexey Akulov
Alexey Akulov
principal ESG specialist
New Development Bank
Bruce Johnson
Bruce Johnson
director of corporate finance and treasury
Masdar
David Staples
David Staples
UAE country manager and managing director – corporate finance
Moody’s Ratings
Dina Storey
Dina Storey
CEO and co-founder
Optimum Green Ventures
Darryl Yu (moderator)
Darryl Yu (moderator)
group managing editor
The Asset
12:40 PM
Networking and luncheon
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