Shipping containers sit on the dock. Global trade is showing signs of bouncing back from pandemic-induced slump, however, a complete recovery will take longer as countries battle second and third waves of Covid-19, according to the WTO. AFP
Shipping containers sit on the dock. Global trade is showing signs of bouncing back from pandemic-induced slump, however, a complete recovery will take longer as countries battle second and third waves of Covid-19, according to the WTO. AFP
Shipping containers sit on the dock. Global trade is showing signs of bouncing back from pandemic-induced slump, however, a complete recovery will take longer as countries battle second and third wave
While the world's eyes were fixed on the US presidential election, another consequential, if less thrilling contest was happening elsewhere, with significant ramifications for global trade. The World Trade Organisation is trying to appoint its new head, a decision that was supposed to be wrapped up in low-key style in the week of the American election.
As it turned out, that did not happen and the reasons for the delay are intertwined with US politics and the election season.
The battle between two contenders to lead the 164-country WTO has, unusually, been invested with drama and a sense of urgency. Some say it is a sign of the state the global trade body is in. The institution, they say, is neither nimble nor persuasive in its mission to oversee the multilateral international trading order. More to the point, they claim, it is unfit for the purpose of updating the rule book and fixing a broken system for solving disputes.
With Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Yoo Myung-hee in the final round to be WTO director-general, the stage is set for the organisation to have its first female leader. AFP
Is this doom and gloom warranted? The answer lies in history, just as much as in contemporary events and geopolitics.
First, in the WTO's 25-year history, there has never been a leadership election like this. Two women are in the running. With Nigerian-born US national Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and South Korea's Yoo Myung-hee in the final round to be WTO director-general, the stage is set for the organisation to have its first female leader.
The WTO's leadership vacuum is also playing out against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, a worldwide recession, the US-China battle for trade supremacy and, of course, the results of the American election.
Second, the Trump administration torpedoed the near-unanimous selection of Ms Okonjo-Iweala shortly before US election day, which threw the WTO’s traditions and systems into confusion. With the US having become the only country to oppose Ms Okonjo-Iweala’s appointment, the WTO was left without much hope of a consensual decision, its long-favoured approach.
Once it became likely that Joe Biden would be America's next president, the WTO simply postponed its search for a consensus. It did this in the hopes of a potentially favourable shift in the US position come January 20 when Mr Biden is inaugurated.
That makes sense. American objections to Ms Okonjo-Iweala appear to be a result of the Trump administration’s hostility to the WTO. President Donald Trump has described the WTO as “horrible” and claims it is biased towards China. He frequently threatened to pull the US out of the body.
Donald Trump has been no fan of the WTO, alleging that the organisation favours China unreasonably. AP Photo
In December, the Trump administration crippled the WTO with a two-year effort to block judicial appointments to its trades-disputes court. As a result, for the past 11 months, there has been no authoritative entity to decide on international disputes about unfair trade practices.
The fact that much of the world has not really noticed the change is significant. Only policy wonks and pundits know that resolving trade disputes – a key part of the WTO’s mission – is currently impossible. Accordingly, it is fair to say that the WTO – a cornerstone of the multilateral rules-based global trading system since its inception in 1995 and successor to the post-Second World War General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade – has not managed to impress by its speed, agility, decisiveness and impact.
The crisis has been many years in the making. The WTO has largely failed to work out new rules, even though for a long time it has been clear that its ability to make decisions depends on consensus among countries, all with different economic interests. When its previous chief, Roberto Azevedo, stepped down on August 31, the WTO could not even agree on an interim successor.
When the WTO's previous chief, Roberto Azevedo, stepped down on August 31, it could not even agree on an interim successor. AFP
In a time of intense disagreement over globalisation and free trade, the WTO's role will matter as it attempts to heal rifts over multilateral negotiations
In the past 25 years, the WTO has completed only one global trade negotiation. Its dispute-settlement process has hardly ever finished on time. And it has not kept pace with the changing global trade landscape. For example, the WTO still needs to agree on a definition of what constitutes a developed or developing country. Members currently decide their own categories and thereby whether or not they receive special and differential treatment as developing countries. The WTO also needs to tackle the urgent issues of how to better handle state-owned enterprises and countries with significant industrial subsidies, such as China.
These issues are not going away, even though Mr Trump, the WTO's most trenchant critic, has lost the election. As former US president Barack Obama notes in his newly published memoir, A Promised Land, the pandemic may be "a mere interruption in the relentless march toward an interconnected world", made up of "global supply chains, instantaneous capital transfers, social media, transnational terrorist networks, climate change, mass migration, and ever-increasing complexity".
The RCEP, the world’s largest regional trade pact, was signed by the 10-member Asean, plus Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. AFP
This sounds about right. In the past week, there have been two key developments in the march towards an interconnected world. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the world's largest regional trade pact, was signed by the 10-member Association of South-East Asian Nations, plus Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. Six non-European Union Balkan countries have also created a common regional market of 18 million people.
At some point the WTO will have a new leader, who will assume office at a pivotal moment. The international community will be adjusting to a new US administration. In a time of intense disagreement over globalisation and free trade, the WTO’s role will matter as it attempts to heal rifts over multilateral negotiations. It will be up to the WTO’s new head to build a consensus for change.
Rashmee Roshan Lall is a columnist for The National
Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
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Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
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Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
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Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
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.”
Sinopharm vaccine explained
The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades.
“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.
"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."
This is then injected into the body.
"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.
"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."
The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.
Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.
“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.
A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.
Badrijani nigvzit
A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.
Pkhali
This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
