In an interview with CNN, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal comments on if foreign investors will still be welcomed in Saudi Arabia

Story highlights

HSBC predicts the Middle East will grow far more slowly than Asia or Africa

Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal on his country's openness to foreign investors

MME also looks at how Gulf States can find opportunity rebuilding the Arab region

CNN  — 

FACETIME: EXCLUSIVE Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, Chairman, Kingdom Holding Company

Long term forecasts for the Middle East are not keeping pace with emerging market peers. The MENA region will grow at 2.6 percent between now and 2020, according to HSBC. That is half the rate of Asia and Africa. MME caught up with the richest man in the Middle East and leading businessman Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and asked him whether businesses will remain open to foreign investment even after the rise of Islamic parties.

IN FOCUS: Gulf to the Rescue?

At World Economic Forum in Davos, the Arab region remains one of the global risks for 2012. The past year was a year of change for the Middle East with protests toppling governments in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya and forcing change in Bahrain and Morocco. But after revolution comes rebuilding and some opportunity for the oil-rich Gulf States. MME’s Leone Lakhani takes a closer look.

Marketplace Middle East airs weekly at the following times (all GMT):

Thursdays: 1645,
Fridays: 0945,
Saturdays: 0715,
Sundays: 0615, 1645