About 150 high profile investment players will discuss cross-border opportunities between Asia and the Middle East at a conference in Singapore next month.

They will take part in the Asia-Middle East Investment Summit (AMEIS 2012), which is co-located with the 3rd Annual World Islamic Banking Conference: Asia Summit (WIBC Asia 2012). The event will be held on June 7 at the Grand Hyatt Singapore.

Speaking ahead of the event, David McLean, chief executive of the AMEIS said: “The rise in significance of Asia and the Middle East is resulting in a fundamental realignment in the investment landscape as the balance of global economic strength shifts to the emerging economies, with its consequent implications on long-term economic and financial flows.

“Recent reports indicate that with the rapid growth in domestic demand, reinforced by the vast productive investment opportunities within and across Asia and the Middle East, it is projected that the emerging world will account for 60 percent of total world output by 2030, 20 percent higher than its current level,” he said.

“The summit will provide a high-level platform for promoting cross-border investment flows between these two dynamic growth regions and will bring together investment leaders from the Middle East and Asia to focus on mobilising increased capital and trade flows”, he added.

The summit will be officially inaugurated with a welcome address by Sheikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, honorary chairman of the Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco). The address will be followed by an opening keynote address by Toby O’Connor, chief executive officer of the Islamic Bank of Asia.

A key highlight will be the special keynote address by Ben Simpfendorfer, managing director of Silk Road Associates. Ben Simpfendorfer, one the world’s leading experts on relations between Asia and the Middle East and author of the influential 'The New Silk Road: How a Rising Arab World is Turning Away from the West and Rediscovering China' will share critical insights on renewing the Silk Road and identifying the growth prospects for Asia-Middle East investment flows.

AMEIS 2012 will feature an exclusive industry leaders’ power debate session that will seek to capitalize on the shift to East-Middle East trade and investment flows as the two regions are set to enter a stronger phase of inter-connectedness.

The session featuring Muzaffar Hisham, chief executive Officer of Maybank Islamic Berhad; Shashank Srivastava, acting chief executive officer and chief strategic development office of  Qatar Financial Centre Authority; and Marc Foss, executive director – Middle East of Silk Invest, will discuss and debate how investments can be more powerfully mobilized between Asia and the Middle East and how industry leaders can successfully tap into the significant growth potential of cross-border trade and investment flows between the two high-growth regions. – TradeArabia News Service