The Jaber- Naseeb crossing between Jordan and Syria. The National
The Jaber- Naseeb crossing between Jordan and Syria. The National
The Jaber- Naseeb crossing between Jordan and Syria. The National
The Jaber- Naseeb crossing between Jordan and Syria. The National

Jordanian and Syrian foreign ministers discuss border security


Khaled Yacoub Oweis
  • English
  • Arabic

The Jordanian and Syrian foreign ministers met in New York this week and discussed border security, Jordan's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

The meeting on Wednesday during the UN General Assembly was the highest-level diplomatic meeting between the two governments since the outbreak of the Syrian revolt 10 years ago.

Jordan's King Abdullah II said in July that Syrian President Bashar Al Assad has shown “longevity”.

Jordanian officials made it clear that improving ties with the regime serves the kingdom’s interests.

The ministry said Foreign Minister Ayman Al Safadi discussed with Faisal Al Mekdad ways to guarantee “the security of the border in ways to serve the interests of the two countries”.

Diplomats in Amman say although Jordan favours accommodation with Mr Al Assad, it is worried about increased drug trafficking from regime areas to Jordan.

The traffic flows from border areas controlled by the regime and pro-Iranian militias linked with Hezbollah, they say, adding that a large proportion of the drugs are routed through Jordan to inner Arabia.

The meeting comes a few days after Syrian Defence Minister and Chief of Staff Ali Ayyoub visited Jordan.

The Jordanian military said he met in Amman on Sunday with Jordanian Chief of Staff Yousef Hunaiti and discussed “joint efforts to combat cross-border smuggling operations, especially drugs".

Unlike most Gulf countries, Jordan did not sever diplomatic ties with Damascus in response to the regime’s crackdown on the initially peaceful protests in 2011 against five decades of Assad family rule.

The revolt broke out in the Hauran Plain, on the border with Jordan.

The same families live on the two sides of the border and a large proportion of the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees who fled to Jordan during the civil war are from Hauran.

Jordanian officials did not comment this month as the regime captured an opposition pocket in Hauran after weeks of Russian pressure on its rebel defenders to accept a surrender deal.

Mr Al Safadi and Mr Al Mekdad also discussed supplying Lebanon with gas and electricity through Syria, the Jordanian ministry said.

Jordan has been seeking in the past two months to mediate energy shipments to Lebanon. A decades-long power crisis worsened this year as the Lebanese economy deteriorated.

Jordanian officials want to send Egyptian fuel to Lebanon through Jordan and areas controlled by the Assad regime.

The kingdom has been also considering supplying some of its own electricity to Lebanon but a regional meeting for that purpose was postponed this month.

Mr Al Safadi told The National this week that he was confident Washington would grant a waiver so that sanctions imposed against the Assad regime would not hinder Jordanian proposals to supply Lebanon with power.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Starring: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto

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Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.

Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.

Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.

Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.

Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.

Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.

Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.

Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.

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Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm

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    Always check the weather forecast before setting off Make sure you have plenty of water Set off early to avoid sudden weather changes in the afternoon Wear appropriate clothing and footwear Take your litter home with you
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1) More than 300 in-house cleaning crew

2) 165 staff assigned to sanitise public areas throughout the show

3) 1,000 social distancing stickers

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Manchester United 1 (Rashford 36')

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Man of the match: Marcus Rashford (Manchester United)

Water waste

In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.

Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.

A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.

The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.

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In 2018, the ICRC received 27,756 trace requests in the Middle East alone. The global total was 45,507.

 

There are 139,018 global trace requests that have not been resolved yet, 55,672 of these are in the Middle East region.

 

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The total figure for the entire world was 654,000 in 2018.

England's all-time record goalscorers:
Wayne Rooney 53
Bobby Charlton 49
Gary Lineker 48
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Michael Owen 40
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Alan Shearer 30
Viv Woodward 29
Frank Lampard 29

Yahya Al Ghassani's bio

Date of birth: April 18, 1998

Playing position: Winger

Clubs: 2015-2017 – Al Ahli Dubai; March-June 2018 – Paris FC; August – Al Wahda

Updated: September 23, 2021, 10:23 PM