The WORLD FORUM for Foreign Direct Investment
2015
February 8 – 10, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
CONFERENCE THEME
Where East Meets West
MONDAY 9 FEBRUARY
CONFERENCE DAY ONE
Jawaher Convention Centre
SUNDAY 8 FEBRUARY
Sharjah Tour & Site Visits with lunch
 The Chamber of Commerce which houses the
“Made in Sharjah” exhibition of 120 companies
 University City Training, education and skills.
 Sharjah Free Trade Zone SAIF-Zone is built
adjacent to the Sharjah International Airport – a
hub that offers excellent sea, land and air
transport links with access to over two billion
consumers across the GCC, the CIS, Asian subcontinent, parts of Africa, the Mediterranean and
Europe, and accessible to seaports on the Indian
Ocean.
 The Heart of Sharjah project is actually the
epicentre and origin of Sharjah. It was here
where the first families took up residence in
their new stone-built homes and is now a
historical area located in modern-day Sharjah.
Desert Safari Inaugural Dinner & Forum Launch
Trained safari guides driving 4x4 vehicles lead the
thrilling journey - over the sand dunes, and through
the Desert Conservation Reserve - deep into the
heart of the desert. A feast under the stars includes
a Middle Eastern selection of grilled meats, fresh
salads, delectable sweets, and hand-picked
beverages at a traditional Bedouin-style camp with
local entertainment and activities including
falconry, camel riding, fat bikes, henna crafting and
much more!
8.15am
VVIP Majlis with His Highness Sultan bin
Mohamed Al Qasimi
By invitation only
9am
Opening Address
His Highness Sultan bin Mohamed Al Qasimi,
Ruler of Sharjah
Confirmed
9.15am
Welcome Address
His Excellency Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri,
Minister of Economy of United Arab Emirates
Confirmed
9.30am-10.30am
Keynote Address: Leapfrogging Competition:
Tech Strategy for Business
Guest Speaker: Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Inventor of
the World Wide Web Confirmed
One of the greatest innovators of our time, his work
was started in October 1990, and the program
"WorldWideWeb" first made available on the
Internet at large in the summer of 1991. Sir Tim is
now with the Computer Science and Artificial
Intelligence Laboratory at MIT, directs the World
Wide Web Consortium and is a director of the
World Wide Web Foundation. In 2004 Tim was
knighted and in 2007 he was awarded the Order of
Merit (OM), bestowed as a personal gift of Queen
Elizabeth II and became one of only 24 living
members to have received it.
Moderator: Frank Gardner, BBC Security
Correspondent Confirmed
Frank Gardner is the BBC’s award-winning
Correspondent, reporting for TV and radio. He was
awarded the OBE by HM The Queen in 2005 for
services to journalism, awarded Honorary
Doctorates by six Universities, the McWhirter
Award for Bravery, Spain’s El Mundo Prize for
International Journalism, the UAE’s Zayed Medal for
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The WORLD FORUM for Foreign Direct Investment
2015
February 8 – 10, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Journalism, voted Person of the Year by the UK
Press Gazette and 2011 Journalist of the Year in the
European Diversity Awards.
10.30am
Refreshments and Networking
11.00am Panel I
East Meeting West: Geopolitics and Foreign
Direct Investment
The role of diplomacy in cross-border commercial
transactions, especially in areas of social or
religious unrest, diminished transparency or
security risk. How do easterners and westerners
communicate? What is the role of international
trade agreements?
Examples of successful partnerships between
companies from the differing business cultures of
East and West, exploring how they got it right and
any mistakes they have made along the way. How
easy is it for a foreign investor to remain faithful to
its in-house creed of corporate governance or social
responsibility when entering a new territory? How
can these differences cause conflict in the
multinational workplace and how can they be
overcome?
Panellists
 Mr Mishal Kanoo, Deputy Chairman, the Kanoo
Group, Confirmed
 Mr. Badar Jafar, Chief Executive Officer,
Crescent Enterprises
Tentatively Confirmed
 Hon. Penny Low, Founder, Social Innovation
Park Ltd, Member of Parliament, Singapore

Confirmed
Mr Jack Ma, Founder & Executive Chairman,
Alibaba Group Invited
12pm Panel II
Global Infrastructure: Enhancing FDI
No matter how paperless the office becomes goods,
commodities and people still move from one place
to another. Airports and maritime ports are vital
for the transport of passengers and freight and
Sharjah is perfectly positioned to offer logistics
support to East-West traffic. Ports combine many
of the factors that are key to site selection decisions
the world over: they are transport hubs, often with
preferential or non-existent tax implications,
offering direct access to markets. Should ports
remain a sovereign possession of the country they
find themselves in or should they be privatised and
if so, is a foreign owner as good as a national one?
Which are the best ports in the world from a foreign
investor’s viewpoint? What businesses are ideally
suited to a dockside location?
Panellists
 Mr. Hussein Hachem, Group Chief Executive
Officer, Aramex Confirmed
 Mr. Halil Kulluk, President & CEO, Intekno
Group of Companies Confirmed
 Mr. Peter Gerber, Chairman, Luftansa Cargo
Invited
 Mr. Jose Antonio Lopez-Monis, Chief Executive
Officer and Managing Director, Habtoor
Leighton Group Invited
1pm
Lunch and Networking
2.00pm -3.00pm : Keynote Address: How Air Asia
changed the Way People do Business in SouthEast Asia Cross Border. The Tune Group’s FDI
Strategy
Guest Speaker: Tony Fernandes, Founder of Air
Asia Confirmed
In less than 3 years, AirAsia grew from 2 modest
Boeing 737-300 to 30 and is now operating over
100 domestic and international daily flights from
hubs in KLIA, Johor Bahru, Bangkok and Jakarta.
Under Mr Fernandes’ leadership, AirAsia went on to
revolutionize the air travel industry in Malaysia and
pioneered the low cost phenomenon in Asia. Away
from aviation, Mr Fernandes is president of the
Asian Basketball League and the majority
shareholder of English soccer Premier League's
Queens Park Rangers.
3.00pm – 3.20pm
Refreshments and Networking
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The WORLD FORUM for Foreign Direct Investment
2015
February 8 – 10, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
3.20pm Panel III
Vanishing Frontiers: Cross-border Financing
Options for FDI
With stress-tested banks exercising increased
caution in their lending, we look at alternative
sources of finance for overseas projects – from
multilateral agencies and development banks
through public-private partnerships to sovereign
wealth funds, venture capital and business angels
with a special nod to Islamic finance.
Panellists
 Mr Mohsin Ali Nathani, Chief Executive Officer
UAE Standard Chartered Bank Confirmed
 Mr. Julio de Quesada, Head of Corporate and
Investment Banking Group, Mashreqbank PSC
Confirmed
 Mr. Muzaffar Hisham, Group Head, Islamic
Banking / Chief Executive Officer, Maybank
Islamic Berhad Invited
4.20pm Panel IV
Navigating Bureaucracy: Breaking the FDI
Barriers
Permits and licences are a drama for multinational
corporations around the globe. From work and
residence permits to licences for earth moving,
building and staffing, not to mention the ubiquitous
environmental impact analysis, these bureaucratic
hurdles can cost a company many thousands of
dollars as well as months of delayed productivity.
Which locations provide a smooth and speedy
journey through the paperwork and which trip
investors up with red tape? How do companies
overcome these obstacles or do they sometimes
decide it’s not worth the effort and expense?
The relocation and expatriation of staff can cause
headaches for expanding companies.
The
immigration impasse was the clear winner as
hottest topic of the WORLD FORUM of 2014. What
methods
have
companies
developed
for
circumventing work and residence permit
difficulties?
Moderator
David Hamod, President & CEO, National US-Arab
Chamber of Commerce
Panellists:
 Mr. Christopher Sanders, Executive Vice
President & Head of Corporate Planning,
Leopold KOSTAL Confirmed
Mr. Khadem Al Qubaisi, Chairman & MD, IPIC
Invited
 Mr. Yves Manghardt, Chairman & CEO, Nestle
Middle East Invited
 Mr. Shigeaki Yoshikawa, Executive Vice
President & Regional CEO Middle East & Central
Asia, Mitsubishi Corporation Invited
5.30pm
Transportation from
Centre to Evening
Association Awards
Jawaher Convention
Reception and FDI
Al Majaz Waterfront
A premier and glamorous outdoor destination
overlooking the Khalid Lagoon and with
breathtaking views of the waterfront and the
magical Sharjah Fountain display.
7.30pm
Dinner
Al Majaz Waterfront
TUESDAY 10 FEBRUARY
CONFERENCE DAY TWO
Jawaher Convention Centre
9am
Welcome
H.E. Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi,
Chairperson of Shurooq
9.15am
Opening Speech
Foreign Direct Investment, Immigration and the
Fight for Talent
Guest Speaker
The Rt Hon. the Lord Mandelson Confirmed
Lord Mandelson served in a number of British
cabinet positions before taking up the appointment
of European Commissioner, and later made a Life
Peer in the House of Lords. Today he is President of
Policy Network, an international policy Think Tank.
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The WORLD FORUM for Foreign Direct Investment
2015
February 8 – 10, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
10.15am
Refreshment break
11. 45am Panel VI
FDI and Hosting Mega-Events
10.45am Panel V
Developing Top Talent
Using the hosting of sporting, cultural and other
large-scale events to attract long-term business
sponsorship to an area.
Is it all about education and graduates? What about
the worldwide lack of engineers? Also, how do we
recruit and retain talent skills in the technology
area? How do we prepare for the next generation of
digital natives/born on the web generation?
Can you tap into more talent from society in
general? Is ageism undergoing a reversal in some
sectors? Is the glass ceiling for women in the US as
luminous and impenetrable as ever, despite some
high profile female CEOs in a handful of Fortune
500 companies? What about companies? Do the
companies on the panel have specific quotas that
must be met in their headquarters country? Gender
mixes, ethnic mixes and age mixes Are skills
shortages more pronounced in the West than the
East?
Multinational companies are recruiting and training
multilingual, multicultural employees and countries
can benefit from their ideas and experience if they
help these skilled workers to move freely around
the globe. The introduction of fast track
immigration procedures for this cadre of personnel
is essential if companies and their operating
locations are to retain their competitive advantage.
1.00pm
Transportation to Closing Networking Lunch
and Cultural Afternoon
Islamic Civilisation Centre
Finish off the conference with a local taste,
including tours of the exhibitions.
Situated right at the historical heart of Sharjah on
the Majarrah Waterfront, this fascinating Museum
started its life as a traditional Middle Eastern souq
or indoor market. The building, now transformed
into a state-of-the art cultural venue, the new
Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization, houses
more than five thousand exquisite Islamic artefacts
from all over the Islamic World, arranged according
to themes over seven spacious galleries and display
areas.
3.30pm – 5pm
FDI Association meeting
CONFERENCE CLOSE
Chair and Moderator
Ms. Cathy Rodgers, Vice President Global
Engagement Office, IBM Confirmed
Panellists
 Mr. Sanjeev Chadha, CEO Asia Middle East &
Africa (AMEA), PepsiCo Invited
 Ms. Zeinab Karake-Shalhoub, Professor RH
Smith School of Business, University of
Maryland Confirmed
 Mr. Craig Hagen, Senior Director Global
Government Affairs, Electronic Arts Tentatively
Confirmed
 Ms. Kathleen Matthews, Executive Vice
President, Chief Communications and Public
Affairs Officer, Marriott International Invited
 Mr. Duncan Mitchell, Senior Vice President
Middle East, Africa, Russia & CIS, Cisco Systems
Invited
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