UAE firms and funds flow in for forum

Athens is hosting a Greek-UAE business forum on Wednesday and Thursday for which a delegation of more than 60 representatives of investment funds and companies from the United Arab Emirates will visit Greece, including many well-known names already active in the country.

Dozens of Emirati companies in tourism, energy, agriculture, health and pharmaceuticals, transport and infrastructure, waste management, such as Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat), ADQ, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), Eagle Hills Properties LLC, Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA), Dubai Holding Group, Al Dahra Agricultural Company, Emirates airline etc.

ADQ, for example, has already signed an agreement with the Hellenic Development Bank of Investments (HDBI) for investments of 4 billion euros in this country since May, while there is an agreement with Mubadala for joint investments of €400 million in startups and venture capital funds.

The meetings between Greek and Emirati companies that will take place follow the bilateral contacts at a senior level and the work carried out by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Economic Diplomacy Kostas Fragogiannis and his team.

In early May, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited the UAE and met with the heir to the throne and de facto leader of the Arab state, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a man with particularly high influence in the whole Arab world and beyond. The meeting reaffirmed the prospects for further strengthening of good bilateral relations in a variety of sectors, such as energy, tourism, shipping, culture, health and agri-food products, as well as defense, while the prime minister stressed that attracting direct investment is a priority of the government and expressed its intention to intensify cooperation between the two sides.

During that trip, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Motor Oil signed a strategic framework agreement to explore liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo supply opportunities in Greece, including the future floating liquefied natural reservoir and liquefied natural gas storage facility (FSRU) of Dioriga Gas.

The Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) and Motor Oil also signed an MoU for the possible development of RES projects in Greece.