Khalaf Al Habtoor held talks with His Excellency Terence R. McAuliffe, the Governor of Virginia at the Al Habtoor Head Office on Monday November 16, 2015.
They discussed the Chairman’s recent visit to the United States where he delivered a keynote speech at the 24th Annual Arab US Policymakers Conference in Washington DC, titled ‘Call for Action’. The strongly worded speech focused on key Middle East issues as well as the upcoming US Presidential election, where Al Habtoor urged Americans to elect a “strong leader.”
Al Habtoor and McAuliffe also discussed the recent terror attacks in Paris. Al Habtoor said “My heart goes out to all Parisians and foreign visitors whose lives will forever be impacted by the actions of evil creatures who have forfeited the right to be called humans let alone Muslims.
Gov. McAuliffe is in the UAE to raise awareness about potential investments in Virginia, and invited Al Habtoor to invest in the state. The Governor is behind a campaign called ‘Building a new Virginia Economy’, which aims to boost the economy and create more jobs. Investing in the future is key to the economic drive.
“I am always on the lookout for sound investments in the US,” Al Habtoor said. Over the past few years the Chairman has increased his international portfolio abroad buying two hotels in Budapest and one in the US - The President Abraham Lincoln Springfield - A DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Springfield, Illinois.
It was the first meeting between the Al Habtoor Group Chairman and Gov. McAuliffe, who worked on President Carter’s re-election campaign, and became the national finance director by the age of 22.