Addressing a press conference to announce the details of the new Gulf Mutual Fund Shehab Gargash, Managing Director, Daman Asset Management, said:"  The Fund was purposely created for IFA by Daman and Univest, to attract global foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into the high potential, but as yet under-exposed markets of the six GCC countries and Iraq."

"Foreign Direct Investments in the Arab countries particularly in the Gulf region is minimal and hardly represents 1 per cent of the total global flows, hence a creation of such financial channel will help increase the amount of FDI in the near future, added Shehab.

"One of the factors behind this dismal record is the lack of avenues for investment in the Arab world and a level of transparency that does not meet the bare minimum standards acceptable to international investors. We created the IFA Khaleeji Fund to pull money into the region's equity markets by acting as a channel for potential global investors."

Jasim Al Bahar, IFA Group Chairman, said: "The IFA Khaleeji Fund has been designed with the specific intention of creating an ideal vehicle through which institutional international investors interested in the region could find a perfect single-entry point into the Gulf markets."

"Our objective is also to globally better position the Arab Gulf as the emerging market with high potential. These markets are well-known to Gulf investors, but are a new frontier to investors beyond the region," added Al Bahar.

"In addition to the buoyant GCC markets, this Fund provides a truly unique opportunity to provide Iraqi equity exposure to investors, with all the promise that such exposure entails so early in the rebirth of this economy," he pointed out.

Abdulwahab Ahmed Al Nakib, Founder & CEO of Univest Group, said the IFA Khaleeji Fund is intended to help build the "trust factor" for Gulf capital markets among global investors.

"Univest Group added a unique feature by utilising its valuable global relationships and introducing Christopher D. Brady of USA-based investment bank, The Chart Group, to the board of IFA Khaleeji Fund. Chris has extensive experience in structuring country funds and brings a lot of insight and value to the Fund's structure and progress," Abdulwahab Al Nakib added.