Asiya Investments, the GCC's premier emerging Asia-focused investment firm, launched its three-day inaugural investments symposium in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

The event marks the official launch of the firm’s Hong Kong office, which serves as its regional headquarters.

The event brings together experts from both the GCC countries and Asia to discuss and debate current economic trends and investment opportunities.

As part of the symposium, the firm will host an evening reception in honour of Bader M. Al Sa’ad, the managing director of the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA). Asiya is wholly owned by the Kuwait China Investment Company, in which KIA is a 15 per cent shareholder.

On September 19, the second day of the event, the agenda will feature a panel discussion on trade flows between the GCC and Asia, and the prospect for their expansion. The panel will be moderated by Asiya’s senior economist Francisco Quintana.

In addition to its macroeconomic research, Asiya’s research team has also studied the deepening relationships between the two regions, highlighting how the growth of trade has laid the foundation for both strategic alliances and cooperative efforts.

Experts see a substantial increase in investment opportunities across the region as a result of these exchanges.

Several experts from the fields of trade, finance and international media will participate in the dialogue, including Christian Stauffer, CEO of EuroFin Asia, a trade finance specialist with whom Asiya manages a trade finance fund, Andrew Ferguson, CEO, APAC Resources and Ben Simpfendorfer, author, The New Silk Road.

Asiya Investments’ Group managing director Ahmad Al-Hamad, said: "The world's centre of economic gravity is moving east. Despite Asia's continued population growth and the expansion of the middle class and the concomitant transition to domestic demand driven economies, the region remains an under-allocated to by global investors."

“The increasing strength of trade and investment ties between the GCC and Asian economies offers GCC investors attractive investment opportunities in sectors such as energy, financial services, real estate, technology and healthcare, while at the same time providing solutions for the financing of Asia’s much-needed infrastructure," he stated.

“At the same time, there has been strong investment from Asia into the GCC – as evidenced by the capital committed by Chinese companies in Gulf-based construction projects. The GCC is also an important consumer of Asian goods, with imports doubling in the last two decades, helping to cement this strategic alliance for the 21st century,” added Al Hamad.

The symposium will also feature a debate: “Should Asian Investors be Concerned about a China Slowdown?”. Moderated by Henny Sender, the chief international finance correspondent for the FT, the discussion will be interactive with the audience issuing their support or denial of the motion both before and after the presentation.

Dr Jiming Ha, Goldman Sachs and Gillem Tulloch, ForensicAsia will argue in favour of the motion, while Ting Lu, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and John Woods, Citi Investment Management will represent the opposition.-TradeArabia News Service