Iraq said it supported efforts to restore Syria's membership of the Arab League, 10 years after it was expelled for a crackdown on protesters that escalated into a civil war.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi received Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Saturday on a visit to Baghdad.
They discussed Syria and other regional issues such as the war in Yemen and Lebanon's economic crisis.
The prime minister's office said Iraq “supports initiatives to end the conflict in Yemen and for Lebanon to overcome its difficult circumstances, as well as Syria's return to the Arab League".
"Iraq stands by the means of internal dialogue to resolve the war," it said.
Iraq is one of several countries in the region that did not cut ties with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad's government after 2011.
Syria was expelled from the Arab League that year.
At the time, Lebanon and Yemen voted against the league's decision and Iraq abstained.
A decade after the start of the war, little hope is held out for Syria's peace process. Talks brokered by the UN, Russia and Turkey have yielded little tangible benefit.
But several Arab states have now backed calls to re-admit Syria to the league as a means for opening up a regional track to the peace process.
However, critics said that would be seen as a political boost for Mr Al Assad's isolated regime.
Mr Al Kadhimi said that an effective presence of the Arab League was important for the region, stressing that Iraq is looking forward to the convening of the next Arab summit.
"The Arab League has an important role to play in promoting constructive rapprochement, overcoming differences, and consolidating efforts between active regional states that are historically linked," he said.
Founded in 1945, the Arab League has been criticised for ineffectiveness during regional disputes and crises.
"The Arab League is passing through a critical stage due to the lack of funding and the difficult conditions that some Arab countries are going through," Mr Aboul Gheit said.
He affirmed the league's support for Iraq and praised the government's recent initiatives to engage with the region.
In the past two weeks, the Iraqi prime minister has led a high-level delegation to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Mr Al Kadhimi is leading a campaign to increase trade and economic co-operation with neighbours in an effort to revive the Iraqi economy.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE both announced a $3 billion investment each in a joint fund with Iraq to boost the private sector.
Mr Aboul Gheit also met Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, who stressed that Syria's "instability impacts Iraq's security".
"The unstable situation in Syria is affecting us," Mr Hussain said during a press conference with Mr Aboul Gheit.
In recent weeks, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, called for Syria to be readmitted to the league to ensure a regional effort in mediating an end to the civil war.
The UAE reopened its embassy in Damascus in 2018 in a sign of thawing relations between the Syrian government and the Arab world after years of diplomatic isolation.
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Barings, one of Britain’s oldest investment banks, was
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What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
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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.”
