Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu shakes hands with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al Maliki in the West Bank city of Ramallah. EPA
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu shakes hands with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al Maliki in the West Bank city of Ramallah. EPA
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu shakes hands with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al Maliki in the West Bank city of Ramallah. EPA
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu shakes hands with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al Maliki in the West Bank city of Ramallah. EPA

MENA

Turkish foreign minister vows support for Palestinians before Israel talks

Mevlut Cavusoglu will meet Israel's Yair Lapid on Wednesday

Rosie Scammell
Rosie Scammell
Jerusalem

May 24, 2022

  • English
  • Arabic

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu reaffirmed Ankara’s support for Palestinians on Tuesday during a visit to Ramallah, before rare talks with Israeli officials.

Mr Cavusoglu’s visit comes as Turkey seeks to strengthen its international ties amid economic woes at home and before elections next year.

“We will continue our strong support for the Palestinian cause,” the Turkish official said after talks with his Palestinian counterpart Riyad Al Maliki.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been a vocal critic of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, but his government has sought to revive ties with Israel in recent months.

The Turkish foreign minister’s decision to meet Palestinian officials first stands in contrast to visits by most European and US delegations, which tend to prioritise talks with Israeli leaders.

During his visit to Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Mr Cavusoglu pledged to boost trade with Palestinians. He is also due to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Mr Cavusoglu will travel on Wednesday to Jerusalem, where he will hold talks with Israel’s foreign and tourism ministers.

He is also expected to make a visit without Israeli officials to Al Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.

Mr Erdogan last month slammed Israeli “interventions” against Muslim worshippers at the mosque compound, which is located in the heart of the Old City.

Israeli riot police fired rubber bullets and beat Palestinians with batons at Al Aqsa, the third holiest site in Islam.

Jordan serves as custodian to the mosque compound but access is controlled by Israel. The site is known as Temple Mount to Jews, who are allowed to enter the compound but not pray there.

Mr Cavusoglu’s visit to the Old City will follow talks with his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid, the first such meeting in Jerusalem for several years.

Turkey recalled its diplomats from Israel in 2018 after Israeli forces killed dozens of Palestinians in protests along the Gaza border.

That move followed Ankara’s earlier decision to cut ties after Israeli forces stormed a ship in 2010 that was leading a flotilla to the blockaded Gaza Strip. Ten Turkish civilians were killed in the raid.

Bilateral ties thawed earlier this year, with a visit to Ankara by Israel’s president for the first time in 15 years.

Mr Erdogan said the decision to host Israeli President Isaac Herzog in March marked a “turning point” in relations.

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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.”

Updated: May 25, 2022, 8:36 AM
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