MENA business leader looking east
- By Zhang Jiaqi
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E-mail China.org.cn, July 27, 2018
Rabih I. Khoury, partner of Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP), one of the leading technology venture capital investment companies based in Dubai, travelled to China for the first time in May 2018. He believes the opportunities for China-Middle East collaboration reflect the new geopolitical reality which has underpinned the increased trade with the East.
"This trend of shifting east, away from Europe and the U.S., will increase trade, investment, cultural exchange and technology transfer between China and the Middle East," said Khoury in a recent written interview with China.org.cn.
Admitting that the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have unfortunately been laggards in economic development, Khoury pointed out that most Middle Eastern governments are now focused on accelerating regional development to create jobs and deal with the endemically high unemployment rate.
"Therefore, the consensus is clear; technology is the only answer for the Middle East economies to leapfrog intermediate development stages in order to catch up with the rest of the world," he said.
During his trip to China, Khoury said he was impressed by the scope, size, breadth and vibrancy of the Chinese investment environment. The Chinese market is clearly booming, in terms of global innovation including AI, machine learning, face recognition, FinTech and HealthTech.
Khoury said Chinese technology companies have showed interest in MENA and Turkey, and Chinese investors have also started to increase their investment in these regions, especially global Chinese technology leaders such as Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent.
MEVP, now one of the leading technology venture capital investment firms in MENA, could play a role as a bridge, from a technology and VC investment perspective, for Chinese technology companies, Chinese VC funds, Chinese Corporate VC entities and Chinese Investors as they expand into MENA, according to Khoury.
"It is important to highlight that China-Middle East collaboration opportunities reinforce and benefit from the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)," he said.
"The BRI has paved the way for MEVP to focus on China as a key source of technology partners and investors," Khoury continued, hailing the role of BRI in the development of MEVP and other Middle East companies in Chinese market, as well as its role in enhancing China-Middle East collaboration.
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