Posted on 03/20/2008 2:45:41 PM PDT by OpusatFR
The US Treasury said Thursday it had struck a series of agreements with big sovereign wealth funds based in Abu Dhabi and Singapore on investments in US markets. The agreements covering investment principles were hammered out following a meeting here between US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and Abu Dhabi and Singapore government officials.
"We had a good discussion today on the issues surrounding sovereign wealth funds. Singapore and UAE have long-established, well-respected funds and are showing real leadership by joining with us today," Paulson said.
The agreements encourage sovereign wealth funds to be more transparent and to base their investment decisions on commercial grounds among other measures.
"The US welcomes sovereign wealth fund investment and looks forward to continuing to work with these two countries and others to support the initiatives underway at the IMF and OECD to develop best practices for sovereign wealth funds and recipient countries," the US Treasury chief said.
The agreements governing sovereign wealth funds were released by the Treasury after Paulson met Singapore's finance minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, government of Abu Dhabi executive council member Hamad Al Hurr Al Suwaidi and other officials at the Treasury.
The International Monetary Fund and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development were seeking standards for sovereign wealth funds, whose value is expected to swell to 10 trillion dollars in five years.
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