Finance: Middle East and North African finance leaders meet in Qatar

Finance leaders from across the Middle East and North Africa have finished a two-day meeting in Qatar.

More than 80 heads of the region's banks, senior public sector officials and, leaders of financial services firms from Europe and the United States, participated in the 10th annual meeting of Middle Eastern and North African Bank Chief Executives hosted by the Qatar National Bank (QNB) in association with the Institute of International Finance (IIF). The conference was held under the auspices of His Excellency Yousef Hussain Kamal, Minister of Finance, State of Qatar.

Mr. Ali Shareef Al-Emadi, Acting Chief Executive, Qatar National Bank, said, "We have learned a great deal in these two days and we can look with confidence to the future. While there are always vulnerabilities on the economic stage, we are now witnessing economic dynamism in the Gulf, which is seeing major investments that are establishing a diverse and solid base for the future. We have also considered at our meeting the challenges that face our region's financial institutions. We have noted significant progress in the technological development of our banks and in their rapid expansion of cross-border business. Very importantly, the exchange of views at our meeting leave us all with a sense of confidence that there is a most constructive determination on the part of financial services firms, official institutions and regulatory authorities, to work together to forge a modern financial architecture in our region".

Speakers at the meeting included: H.E. Yousef Hussain Kamal, Minister of Finance, State of Qatar; H.E. Sheikh Abdullah Bin Saud Al-Thani, Governor of Qatar Central Bank; Ali Shareef Al-Emadi, Acting Chief Executive, Qatar National Bank; Charles Dallara, Managing Director, IIF; Ibrahim Dabdoub, Chief Executive Officer, National Bank of Kuwait; Hassan Abdalla, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Arab African International Bank; William McDonough, Vice Chairman and Special Advisor to the Chairman, Merrill Lynch; Jonathan Chenevix-Trench, Chairman, Morgan Stanley International Limited; and Henry Azzam, Founder and CEO Amwal Invest and Chairman, Dubai International Financial Exchange. A full list of participating institutions is attached.

Post: 7/10