| Kippreport.com

“It will be interesting to see what the result of the MSCI ruling will be. I think the fundamentals are there to support the upgrade,” Abdulla Mohammed Al Awar, told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Dubai.

The UAE, along with Qatar, will find out next month if they have been upgraded from frontier market status, having had the decision delayed in June for MSCI to receive further feedback from market participants.

The UAE’s reputation among international investors was not dependent on achieving the mark though, in Al Awar’s eyes.

“Regardless of the MSCI ranking, it’s clear that the UAE and Dubai maintain their leading role across the region and is perceived as a leading financial centre,” he said.

The DIFC Authority is the body that develops policies and oversees the strategic development and administration of the DIFC, the emirate’s financial free zone which houses the offices of many global banks, asset managers, insurers and law firms. (Reporting by David French; Editing by Firouz Sedarat)