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Gaza ceasefire negotiations have stalled and are at a “sensitive stage”, amid escalating tension between Iran and Israel, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman said on Wednesday.
Two sources told The National on Tuesday that the months-long talks were on hold, with no meaningful contact by mediators and Hamas and Israel.
The on-off negotiations were overshadowed by Iran’s drone and missile attack on Israel on Saturday.
“Unfortunately, the negotiations are between moving forward and stalling, and at this stage we are going through a sensitive stage with some stalling,” the Qatari Prime Minister said in Doha.
“We are trying as much as possible to address this stalling, move forward and put an end to the suffering that the people in Gaza are experiencing and returning the hostages at the same time.”
Qatar's Prime Minister also hosted Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan for talks on Gaza in Doha on Wednesday, a Qatari source told The National.
They discussed the need for de-escalation in the region, the Qatari source said, as the region remains on high alert ahead of Israel's expected retaliation against Iran.
A Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters that Mr Fidan met Hamas leader-in-exile Ismail Haniyeh, who Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he had invited to Turkey over the weekend.
Iran’s attack involved dozens of drones, as well as cruise and ballistic missiles, and was launched in retaliation for an air strike on its embassy compound in Damascus on April 1, which Tehran blames on Israel.
Iran signalled that it did not seek further escalation.
The sources told The National the last contact with Hamas over ceasefire negotiations was late on Saturday, hours before Iran launched its attack.
The militant group informed mediators from Qatar and Egypt that it had rejected the latest proposals.
Hamas has continued to maintain that it will not accept a truce or an exchange of detainees and hostages with Israel unless it is given guarantees over a permanent ceasefire, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an unconditional return home of Palestinians displaced in the northern part of the enclave.
Israel did not publicly comment on the Hamas response but has, in the past, described similar demands as “delusional”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government said the war would only end after it dismantles the governing and military capabilities of Hamas, which has ruled the Palestinian enclave since 2007.
The Gaza war, the fifth conflict between Hamas and Israel since 2008, began when fighters from the militant group attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and kidnapping about 250.
Israel responded with a ferocious bombing campaign that has killed more than 33,900 Palestinians, displaced most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents and razed large areas of the enclave.
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Maratha Arabians 138-2
C Lynn 91*, A Lyth 20, B Laughlin 1-15
Team Abu Dhabi 114-3
L Wright 40*, L Malinga 0-13, M McClenaghan 1-17
Maratha Arabians won by 24 runs
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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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During her free time: I like to drink coffee - a latte no sugar and no flavours. I do not like cold drinks
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