Investors seeking advice to secure their investments

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In response to the global financial crisis, naseba and the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry have decided to add two exclusive panel discussions to the program of the Real Estate Investment World Summit to discuss the state of that crisis and its impact on the Middle East markets and respond to the investors' needs in the region.

The summit is taking place on October 18^th-20^th in Riyadh, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As opposed to the developed countries that are facing liquidity problems, the GCC countries seem to have enough reserves to face the crisis. This is due to the surpluses accumulated over the past few years and the fact that they have not directly invested in any international institutions.

In view of the situation, they are nevertheless taking extensive measures to protect themselves and ensure not to be contaminated by the issues faced by the Western World. Governments have just created guarantees for all bank deposits, ensuring they can face any liquidity issues if needed. Saudi Arabia has also decided to cut interest, despite a healthy and growing economy.

However, the General Secretariat of the Federation of GCC Chambers of Commerce and Industry recently stated that the crisis could pose "a threat to the development programs as well as economic, investment and financial activities in the GCC states".

"In this context, there is a surge from investors to understand what the actual situation in the region is and how they should react to the international crisis. We have had a lot of requests from the investors who are attending this summit as they are concerned about what they should do next to secure their investments," explained Fabien Faure, Managing Director of naseba Middle East and India.

On October, 19^th, Ford Fraker, the U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Dr. Fahad Al-Sultan, the Secretary General at the Council of Saudi Chambers will discuss the Global Economy and the impact of the credit crunch and compare worldwide relations during a one hour and a half panel discussion starting at 11am.

The panel discussion, moderated by Oliver Cornock from Oxford Business Group, will study the current market conditions worldwide focusing on the impact on the real estate sector and comparing the established markets and the emerging ones as well as the relations the Middle East has with Asia, Africa, Europe and America.

In response to the current uncertainties on liquidity, Khaled Al Kamda, the Group Managing Director of Dubai Islamic Bank, has decided to refocus his presentation on disappearing liquidity. He will look at the credit crunch on a global perspective, examine the immediate and near term impact of the Credit Crunch in the GCC as well as give his insights on the impact of all of this on the Real Estate sector.

The second new panel discussion is taking place on October 20^th, at 9am with Blair Hagkull, the MD - MENA of Jones Lang Lasalle and Rehan Ateeq, the Co-CEO of Capri Capital U.S.A. The discussion will focus on the investors' point of view by addressing wealth management and give an understanding to the audience on how to maximize returns on investment while minimizing risk.

After exploring what the demands of investors for real estate transactions are and which markets they find lucrative, the panel, moderated by Souhail Karam from Thomson Reuters, will analyze the effect of the crisis on Shari'ah Compliant Funds. The audience will have the opportunity to discover where investors would invest in the current situation, what criteria they take into consideration in that process and how they value a particular product.

Notes and contacts

About naseba

Established in 2002, naseba produces business platforms focused on re-education, networking and most importantly increasing deal-making opportunities for executive clients. With offices strategically located in 5 cities around the world, naseba employs over 300 executives from more than 30 nationalities. naseba group went public on the Paris Stock Exchange on October 5th, 2006.

You can learn more about this press release by visiting - www.therealestateworldsummit.com

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