A+ A-

KIA: We chose China to open investment office because of its great assets

By Khaled Al-Mutairi

SHANGHAI, Nov 21 (KUNA) -- Kuwait Investment Authority's (KIA) Managing Director Farouk Bastaki said on Wednesday that KIA's selection of China as the second station for opening an external office in comes because of its great assets and potentials.
This came in a brief statement to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the Kuwait Investment Authority's office in Shanghai, which was held in the presence of Kuwait's Minister of Finance Dr. Nayef Al-Hajraf and the Kuwaiti economic delegation which is currently visiting Shanghai.
The Kuwaiti investment office in Shanghai will be an important station through which Kuwaiti investments will move towards the Asian continent, which is full of promising investment opportunities, Bastaki said.
On his part, head of the Kuwait Investment Office in Shanghai, Abdul Razzaq Al-Baeijan, told KUNA that the opening of the office came after KIA met all the requirements of the Chinese authorities, adding that the Investment Office of Kuwait was granted a license to practice investment management on behalf of KIA.
He said the license came after two years of negotiations with the Shanghai government for an asset management license through which the bureau could manage all KIA's assets in China and expand in the future in Asia.
He stressed that this would not have been possible without the successful visit of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to China last July and his support to the Kuwaiti-Chinese relations to move to new levels of cooperation between the two countries.
He said that Kuwait is the first foreign country to be granted this license, saying this reflects depth of the bilateral ties between the two countries, which is usually granted to companies and not to countries.
Al-Baeijan said that the available investments available in China are many and varied, including the shares offered in the Chinese stock exchanges, bonds and direct acquisitions in Chinese companies, including the banking sector, and the information technology sector.
He pointed out that the Office has launched an initiative for Chinese companies to provide training programs for Kuwaiti national cadres to qualify them to manage assets in bonds, stocks and direct acquisitions.
He noted that KIA office's license in Beijing is still in place but will be canceled during the next stage because its role is limited to establishing public relations and not entitled to engage in any investment activity and ended his role by building bridges of cooperation and knowledge with Chinese companies.(pick up previous).
km.tg