History is to be made when President Sheikh Mohamed is received at the White House by US President Joe Biden.
Monday's visit will be the first time Sheikh Mohamed has visited Washington as President. It will also mark the first meeting of UAE and US presidents on American soil since the Emirates was founded.
Relations between American presidents and UAE leaders go back decades. In 2008, Sheikh Mohamed, who was Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi at the time, hosted George W Bush when the US leader travelled to the country to meet former UAE President, the late Sheikh Khalifa, in Abu Dhabi. The occasion was the first official visit to the Emirates by a sitting American president.
Five months later, Sheikh Mohamed held talks with Mr Bush at Camp David. Sheikh Mohamed, as Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, was also received in Washington by presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
Sheikh Mohamed also met Mr Biden at a summit in Jeddah two months after becoming President of the UAE in May 2022. They also held talks at the G20 summit in New Delhi in 2023.
Landmark visit
But the significance of the first official visit to Washington by a UAE President cannot be understated. It comes at a time of great tension and instability around the world, not least in the Middle East, with the UAE and US not always seeing the way forward from the same perspective.
That does not mean there is a deep divide between the countries, but they differ in some policy areas. The UAE and US “work together to promote regional security, create economic prosperity and address pressing global challenges”, the UAE embassy in Washington says on its website.
The US State Department, meanwhile, says the UAE holds “an influential role in the Middle East and is a key partner for the United States. The United States and the UAE enjoy strong bilateral co-operation on a full range of issues”.
Diplomatic pleasantries aside, the record book underlines the importance of Monday’s meeting. The Office of the Historian at the US Department of State publishes meticulous records of overseas visits by American leaders going back to 1901. It shows US Presidents have received more than 190 world leaders since 1874 – the UAE excepted.
Longstanding friendship
While the US was among the first countries to recognise the UAE after it was founded in December 1971, the inaugural recorded meeting between a senior US official and a UAE president in the Emirates came in 1990, on the eve of the First Gulf War. James Baker, secretary of state under president George HW Bush, held talks with UAE Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
Sheikh Zayed was already familiar with the US and its leaders, of course. His first visit to the country was in 1957, accompanying his brother, Sheikh Hazza bin Sultan, who was having medical treatment in New York. In 1999, Sheikh Zayed travelled to Cleveland, Ohio, and received Richard Clarke, a veteran adviser to US presidents and strong supporter of the UAE.
Sheikh Zayed met former US president Jimmy Carter in Abu Dhabi in 1990. Mr Carter was on a mission to eradicate Guinea worm disease from Africa and the support he received from Sheikh Zayed continues to have an effect today.
In 1998, Sheikh Khalifa, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi at the time, visited Washington for talks with president Bill Clinton, with an agreement struck for the UAE to receive 80 F-16 fighter jets.
US records show there were no visits by a US secretary of state to the UAE between 1991 and 2006. But since then those holding the office have travelled to Abu Dhabi 18 times, under four different US presidents. Condoleezza Rice, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Mike Pompeo and the current Secretary of State Antony Blinken have also made trips to the UAE.
Mr Kerry served as secretary of state during the Obama presidency, a period of tension between the US and the Gulf. Mr Obama’s “pivot” away from the Middle East towards China and his decision to finalise the Iran nuclear deal in 2015 without consulting Gulf states were poorly received in the region.
Relations warmed during the Trump administration, with the Abraham Accords signed in Washington in 2020. But the staunch support of the US towards Israel as the Gaza war rages has once again tested relations between America and the region.
But the depth of the ties between the UAE and US is clear, whether it is the sharing of intelligence, the presence of American military personnel at Al Dhafra Airbase, bilateral trade that now exceeds $30 billion, or the cultural links epitomised by the founding of New York University Abu Dhabi.
What is certain is that, when the countries' leaders meet next week, there will be no shortage of things to talk about.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Indoor cricket World Cup:
Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23
UAE fixtures:
Men
Saturday, September 16 – 1.45pm, v New Zealand
Sunday, September 17 – 10.30am, v Australia; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Monday, September 18 – 2pm, v England; 7.15pm, v India
Tuesday, September 19 – 12.15pm, v Singapore; 5.30pm, v Sri Lanka
Thursday, September 21 – 2pm v Malaysia
Friday, September 22 – 3.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 3pm, grand final
Women
Saturday, September 16 – 5.15pm, v Australia
Sunday, September 17 – 2pm, v South Africa; 7.15pm, v New Zealand
Monday, September 18 – 5.30pm, v England
Tuesday, September 19 – 10.30am, v New Zealand; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Thursday, September 21 – 12.15pm, v Australia
Friday, September 22 – 1.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 1pm, grand final
The biog
Favourite Emirati dish: Fish machboos
Favourite spice: Cumin
Family: mother, three sisters, three brothers and a two-year-old daughter
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20myZoi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202021%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Syed%20Ali%2C%20Christian%20Buchholz%2C%20Shanawaz%20Rouf%2C%20Arsalan%20Siddiqui%2C%20Nabid%20Hassan%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2037%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Initial%20undisclosed%20funding%20from%20SC%20Ventures%3B%20second%20round%20of%20funding%20totalling%20%2414%20million%20from%20a%20consortium%20of%20SBI%2C%20a%20Japanese%20VC%20firm%2C%20and%20SC%20Venture%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
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.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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