10th Annual Investment Meeting

UAE Ministry of Economy has launched the milestone edition of AIM under the theme, ‘Investing for the Future: Shaping the Global Investment Strategies’. Government officials, economic experts, global investors and entrepreneurs from over 140 countries will come together at the 10th edition to be held from March 24-26, 2020 in Dubai.

Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) is under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. AIM has consistently provided a unique platform mostly for emerging economies to attract FDI. Now in its milestone edition, AIM is adhering to the call for a more extensive and inclusive economic growth and has added, aside from FDI, four more pillars- small and medium enterprises, foreign portfolio investment, startups, and future cities. It will also hold ‘One Belt, One Road’ which is an exclusive side event. Praising the expanded network of AIM 2020, HE Abdullah Al Saleh, the UAE Ministry of Economy’s Undersecretary for Foreign Trade Affairs, said, “Attracting investments does not only link its spillovers to the local economy, it enables inclusive growth providing long-term benefits to host countries in terms of job creation, enhancement of skill base, transfer of technology and increase in competitiveness.”

Under the theme ‘Investing for the Future: Shaping the Global Investment Strategies’, AIM will traverse the shifting investment landscape at the global scale and assist world economies to attract investment. AIM’s flagship pillar, FDI, will link municipalities, cities and countries with quality FDIs that match the necessary condition of their market and their existing infrastructure. AIM 2020 will also work toward narrowing the credit gap to benefit SMEs by providing a global platform to promote their products and services to genuine investors.

AIM 2020 will continue to support startups with expanded networking opportunities and focused discussions including mentoring sessions. A series of National Pitch Competitions will be held in 80 countries where top winners will be hosted in Dubai to compete in the final AIM 2020 Startup Competition. Startup, now an AIM pillar, will take a prominent position at AIM 2020 to further build a growing interest in funding which has reached $407 billion 2018, an increase of 23.3 per cent from 2017. The top sectors for funding were software and SaaS, fintech, medtech, media and entertainment, health and wellness which represented 52.7 per cent of total disclosed funding.