The G7 leaders pose for the 'family photo' at the start of the G7 summit in Carbis Bay, Cornwall. AFP
The G7 leaders attend a working session in Carbis Bay. AFP
The G7 leaders arrive for the family photo. EPA
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German Chancellor Angela Merkel look on as they arrive for the G7 summit. AFP
Boris Johnson welcomes France's President Emmanuel Macron to the G7 summit. AFP
The G7 leaders make their way to the beach. EPA
US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill approach Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie, as they arrive for the G7 summit in Carbis Bay. Reuters
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie walk on the beach during the G7 summit in Carbis Bay. Reuters
Carrie Johnson greet Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Reuters
France's President Emmanuel Macron chats to Italy's Prime Minister Mario Draghi as they make their way to an EU co-ordination meeting. AFP
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau elbow bump before a bilateral meeting in Carbis Bay. Reuters
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, France's President Emmanuel Macron, President of the European Council Charles Michel, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italy's Prime Minister Mario Draghi take part in an EU meeting. AFP
Boris Johnson and Italy's Prime Minister Mario Draghi elbow bump. Reuters
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau makes his way through the resort in Carbis Bay. AFP
If the world is looking for a pivot-point to propel its recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, participants in the Group of Seven summit in the UK must hope this weekend will provide it.
On the opening night in Cornwall on Friday, US President Joe Biden held the elite set of leaders in his thrall, according to one participant. The setting was the Eden Project, a large man-made rainforest – a symbolic place where Mr Biden addressed the threats of climate change. The pandemic has changed many things, but Mr Biden's discussion of the issue was in the tone of a father to an extended family. His words made "the hairs raise" on the back of the neck for some attendees.
Cornwall, as the venue for the G7 meeting, lends itself to epic thinking. “Is this Land's End?” asked Mario Draghi, the Italian Prime Minister, as he exchanged small talk with his British counterpart, Boris Johnson, at the family photo. While there is a nearby landmark with just that name, an alternative, cataclysmic interpretation of the remark seems appropriate.
The test set by Covid-19 has saturated this G7. The group is determined to show that it still holds the ring of the global economic and political landscape.
Under Mr Johnson's leadership, this year's G7 is looking for a new departure. Timing is on the British leader's side. He has not only brought the group to Cornwall to show that Global Britain can be a real force in the world, but the US is also asserting itself under its new leader.
Mr Biden has set out to put flesh on the bones of his international pledge that "America is back". While departing for the UK, he said he wanted the countries present to show they were “tight” with America.
Mr Biden is delivering the gift of physical presence to the summit, stressing the need for multilateralism after the go-it-alone isolationist approach of the previous president, Donald Trump.
The Biden team is on an eight-day trip to Europe, culminating in a showdown with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva on Wednesday. A week is a long time for the leader of the US and this one is an investment for the rest of the presidency. The question is whether or not the rest of us will gain a future dividend from this weekend of discussions.
By seizing on the urgency of the pandemic, the G7 can hope to trail-blaze the global recovery. The hosts are hoping that by defining the themes of the recovery, the group overcomes its relative historic slide in importance. With clarity of leadership, there is an opening for the western countries and Japan to show the rest of the world that they are a vital forum for recovery.
This is why G7 is setting a new standard on vaccine distribution. Up to one billion doses will be made available. The global need is probably somewhere nearer seven billion doses but the summiteers hope their announcement represents a good start.
The meeting is addressing what both Mr Biden and Mr Johnson call the "build back better" agenda. There is a new push on development finance, in effect to push stimulus wider and longer from the richest economies to the developing and middle-income countries. The last big theme for the meeting, of course, is the climate agenda.
G7 is determined to show that it still holds the ring of the global economic and political landscape
In all three areas, the real question is if the G7 can tee up transformative change to be delivered before the end of 2021.
The declaration, when it comes later on Sunday, will have relatively little to say on the traditional pillars of G7 foreign and security policy. In those terms, strands such as the Middle East Peace Process have been effectively eclipsed from the agenda. Clearly, the pandemic has set a new baseline for diplomacy while the climate agenda is now firmly rooted at the heart of global politics.
Communiques are a work of politics and Mr Biden wants to ensure that poorer countries can see a big offer from the rich. The failures of the post-2008 approach to recovery from the global financial crisis have been felt in domestic politics in his country and around the world. The current crisis is, therefore, an opportunity for a policy reset – as if to say austerity is a sin, not a virtue.
The group isn't on the same page on one particular issue, though.
The White House briefings on the fringes of the summit make clear how much they want to draw a recovery contrast with China. But for some of the participants, this is a divisive message. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that keeping channels open with Beijing is key to the global recovery. French President Emmanuel Macron is also not interested in falling in line, although he has sought to show that he is broadly on board with Mr Biden.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Joe Biden have presented an opportunity to reset the G7. Getty
Using the reserves of the global institutions, where G7 countries hold many of the voting rights, Washington wants to make $100 billion available to recovery programmes. That is not only helping out with vaccine rollout but also backing new infrastructure with an emphasis on addressing climate challenges.
The US agenda is to “enable greener, more robust economic recoveries in vulnerable countries, and promote a more balanced, sustained, and inclusive global recovery”.
With the initiative to set a global minimum corporate tax, the G7 has sought to provide revenue streams to pay for the pandemic deficits. It will also provide words that marry this vision to its efforts to involve business and the private sector in the climate drive.
This is a summit with an unabashedly retro ideal of asserting the West and Japan. Given the stakes, it is a last chance to prove that the group can mobilise the resources to match its words.
Damien McElroy is the London bureau chief at The National
People watch from the beach as two giant balloons, depicting US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, float on a dock in the harbour of Falmouth, Cornwall. AP Photo
Freshly baked G7 Cornish pasties are placed in the window of a pastry shop in St Ives. AFP
Climate activists dress in blue costumes as they demonstrate in St. Ives. AP Photo
Protesters dressed as Pikachu characters demonstrate on Gyllyngvase Beach, calling on the Japanese government to stop burning coal by 2030, in Falmouth. Getty Images
Members of the public visit the 'Mount Recyclemore' sculpture depicting G7 leaders at Sandy Acres, St Ives. EPA
Extinction Rebellion protesters stage a "Stop Rearranging the Deckchairs" Titanic theatrical beach action in St Ives. Getty Images
Members of the media work at desks screened-off due to Covid-19, in the media centre at Falmouth, Cornwall. AFP
Oxfam activists with 'Big Head' caricatures of G7 leaders, during a protest at a beach near Falmouth. Reuters
Officers from Britain's Metropolitan Police force sit on their jet ski as they patrol on the sea in St Ives. AFP
Extinction Rebellion activists stage a "Wake-up Call" theatrical action in St Ives. Getty Images
An incoming tide washes away a part of a giant beach sand artwork depicting the faces of the G7 leaders at Watergate Bay Beach, Newquay. Reuters
An RAF Giraffe Agile Multi Beam Radar looks down on Gwithian Bay from its location in a car park near St Ives, England. The radar is a coastal surveillance and tracking radar which can monitor air targets and warn against incoming rocket, artillery and mortar rounds. Getty Images
The motorcade of President Joe Biden is driven through Carbis Bay, Cornwall. AFP
A caricature of Boris Johnson is pictured between the handle bars of a motorbike in Carbis Bay. AFP
A local resident dressed as a chick, protests against the G7 summit in St Ives. AFP
HMS The Prince of Wales aircraft carrier patrolling the waters off of St Ives. EPA
Extinction Rebellion stage a protest on the beach of St Ives. Getty Images
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Ajax v Juventus, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)
Match on BeIN Sports
Company Profile
Name: Thndr Started: 2019 Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr Sector: FinTech Headquarters: Egypt UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi Current number of staff: More than 150 Funds raised: $22 million
9th row
Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso)
Lance Stroll (Williams)
10th row
Charles Leclerc (Sauber)
arcus Ericsson (Sauber)
What is a robo-adviser?
Robo-advisers use an online sign-up process to gauge an investor’s risk tolerance by feeding information such as their age, income, saving goals and investment history into an algorithm, which then assigns them an investment portfolio, ranging from more conservative to higher risk ones.
These portfolios are made up of exchange traded funds (ETFs) with exposure to indices such as US and global equities, fixed-income products like bonds, though exposure to real estate, commodity ETFs or gold is also possible.
Investing in ETFs allows robo-advisers to offer fees far lower than traditional investments, such as actively managed mutual funds bought through a bank or broker. Investors can buy ETFs directly via a brokerage, but with robo-advisers they benefit from investment portfolios matched to their risk tolerance as well as being user friendly.
Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.
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.”
For first two Test in India Joe Root (captain), Jofra Archer, Moeen Ali, James Anderson , Dom Bess, Stuart Broad , Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Ben Foakes, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes. Reserves James Bracey, Mason Crane, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Parkinson, Ollie Robinson, Amar Virdi.
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
