Minister of State for International Co-operation Reem Al Hashimy addresses the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, on Saturday, September 23, 2023. AP
Minister of State for International Co-operation Reem Al Hashimy addresses the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, on Saturday, September 23, 2023. AP
Minister of State for International Co-operation Reem Al Hashimy addresses the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, on Saturday, September 23, 2023. AP
Insight and opinion from The National’s editorial leadership
September 25, 2023
Henry Kissinger, the centenarian former US diplomat and Nobel laureate, once observed “the reason that university politics is so vicious is because the stakes are so small”. International politics, where the stakes are not only huge but potentially nuclear, is a domain better suited to civility and compromise.
These days, however, it seems like the world needs reminding of that fact. The need for climate action and concerted efforts to tackle global challenges from pandemics to extremism is greater than ever. And major conflicts continue to pose challenges to the world. The war in Ukraine, for instance, recently hit the 18-month mark with no political settlement in sight. It becomes even harder to reach compromise when the world’s two leading superpowers, the US and China, can hardly stand to be in a room together. And the dramatic breakdown in relations just last week between Canada and India suggests even countries known for being diplomatic heavyweights can lose their cool remarkably fast.
In a wide-ranging speech at UNGA, Reem Al Hashimy, the UAE Minister of State for International Co-operation, stressed the continued importance of seeking political solutions in order to resolve the myriad international disputes that plague the world.
Al Hashimy stressed the continued importance of seeking political solutions
“Resorting to the use of force instead of relying on political solutions and dividing the world into an ‘us against them’ mentality is a zero sum game,” Ms Al Hashimy told delegates. “This will only lead to more chaos and wither our diplomatic tools.”
The significance of diplomatic tools cannot be overstated. However bleak the global picture can sometimes look, there is no doubt the world has seen some major diplomatic breakthroughs in recent years. This is evident nowhere more than in the Middle East, where global and regional powers have helped to broker detentes, compromises and official agreements that were previously thought to be either impossible or, at the very least, extremely unlikely. Perhaps the most famous example is the Abraham Accords, which, with US help, established relations between Israel and a number of Arab countries. But other examples include the restoration of ties between GCC countries, the revival of trade links between Turkey and the Gulf, and – with help from China – the steady progress in restoring relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Careful and diligent diplomacy was the driving force in all these developments.
Reviving a culture of collective action ought to be an urgent priority for the international community. Challenges like global climate change and the stabilisation of the global economy affect nearly everyone, and there is no unilateral, brute-force path to solving them. When the world convenes once again at Cop28, the global climate summit, in the UAE in November, observers of the conference will have little patience for those who decline to negotiate in good faith or prioritise the common good.
“Peace”, Ms Al Hashimy reminded delegates, “is our choice”. She is right. Aligning interests, reaching agreements and forging a path towards development are not things that happen by convenience or by accident. They require active, conscious decision-making and leadership. And the stakes are only getting higher.
Badr Organisation: Seen as the most militarily capable faction in the Hashd. Iraqi Shiite exiles opposed to Saddam Hussein set up the group in Tehran in the early 1980s as the Badr Corps under the supervision of the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The militia exalts Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei but intermittently cooperated with the US military.
Saraya Al Salam (Peace Brigade): Comprised of former members of the officially defunct Mahdi Army, a militia that was commanded by Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr and fought US and Iraqi government and other forces between 2004 and 2008. As part of a political overhaul aimed as casting Mr Al Sadr as a more nationalist and less sectarian figure, the cleric formed Saraya Al Salam in 2014. The group’s relations with Iran has been volatile.
Kataeb Hezbollah: The group, which is fighting on behalf of the Bashar Al Assad government in Syria, traces its origins to attacks on US forces in Iraq in 2004 and adopts a tough stance against Washington, calling the United States “the enemy of humanity”.
Asaeb Ahl Al Haq: An offshoot of the Mahdi Army active in Syria. Asaeb Ahl Al Haq’s leader Qais al Khazali was a student of Mr Al Moqtada’s late father Mohammed Sadeq Al Sadr, a prominent Shiite cleric who was killed during Saddam Hussein’s rule.
Harakat Hezbollah Al Nujaba: Formed in 2013 to fight alongside Mr Al Assad’s loyalists in Syria before joining the Hashd. The group is seen as among the most ideological and sectarian-driven Hashd militias in Syria and is the major recruiter of foreign fighters to Syria.
Saraya Al Khorasani: The ICRG formed Saraya Al Khorasani in the mid-1990s and the group is seen as the most ideologically attached to Iran among Tehran’s satellites in Iraq.
(Source: The Wilson Centre, the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation)
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
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.”
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
An arms embargo
A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
