Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim meets Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian in Doha on Tuesday. Reuters
Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim meets Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian in Doha on Tuesday. Reuters
Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim meets Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian in Doha on Tuesday. Reuters
Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim meets Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian in Doha on Tuesday. Reuters

Iran’s Foreign Minister visits Qatar and Oman in diplomatic push


Ismaeel Naar
  • English
  • Arabic

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has made visits to both Qatar and Oman to meet senior Gulf officials in a flurry of diplomacy.

In Doha, Mr Amirabdollahian met Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim to discuss bilateral relations.

Sheikh Tamim hailed the strong relations between the two countries and called for the comprehensive development of ties, particularly in the economic sphere, Iran’s Mehr news agency reported.

Mr Amirabdollahian described political relations between the nations as “excellent” and called for bilateral trade ties to be expanded in proportion to their “close and friendly” relations, Iran’s Irna news agency reported.

The minister's visit to Doha comes ahead of an imminent meeting of the Iran-Qatar Joint Economic Commission.

The pair also discussed transport co-operation, particularly in the maritime sector.

Mr Amirabdollahian also praised Qatar's recent efforts to resolve regional problems, and called on both countries to enhance co-operation to ensure regional peace, stability and security.

Later on Tuesday, Mr Amirabdollahian and his delegation travelled to Muscat to meet Mohammad Abdulsalam, the chief negotiator of Yemen's Houthi rebel group.

Mr Amirabdollahian also met his Omani counterpart Sayyid Badr Albusaidi.

Sanam Vakil, director of Chatham House's Middle East and North Africa programme, said Iran’s recent diplomatic push both in the Gulf and the wider region was part of efforts to show it can overcome its challenges.

Iran is “looking to show that despite sanctions and domestic protests it continues to weather the storm by bolstering stronger international economic and foreign ties”, Ms Vakil told AFP.

“These links … aim to increase economic connectivity and boost internal morale,” she added.

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi has also been on a foreign policy tour recently, visiting China, Syria and Venezuela, as well as hosting Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan.

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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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Updated: June 21, 2023, 8:11 AM