US urges opening of Gulf oil sectors

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Source: AFP

US urges opening of Gulf oil sectors by Ali Khalil
33 minutes ago



ABU DHABI (AFP) - US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson assured Gulf investors on Monday that the United States will remain open to sovereign wealth funds and urged oil producers to open their energy sectors to foreign investment.

"As we seek to open new markets abroad, America will keep our markets open at home to investment from private firms and from sovereign wealth funds," Paulson said on the last stop of a Gulf tour.

"We reject measures that would isolate us from the world economy," he said in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi, whose government-run fund manages assets estimated at up to 875 billion dollars.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority injected 7.5 billion dollars in capital in ailing US banking giant Citigroup last November, becoming one of the bank's biggest shareholders.

The state-owned Kuwait Investment Authority has also pumped five billion dollars into Citigroup and Merrill Lynch.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080602/wl_mideast_afp/gulfuseconomyfundsoil_080602124239;_