UAE President awards Sheikh Mohammed and Sheikh Mansour Order of Zayed after Cop28 success

President Sheikh Mohamed has awarded the Order of Zayed to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court.

He also awarded the First Class Order of Zayed II to the UAE's Cop28 negotiating team, along with members of the Cop28 Presidency Office and various working groups.

During the meeting, Sheikh Mohamed awarded several Emirati officials, ministers and teams who contributed to the preparation and hosting of the summit in Dubai last year, that led to a landmark agreement to tackle climate change.

The award ceremony took place at Erth Hotel in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, state news agency Wam reported.

President Sheikh Mohamed and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, present Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Cop28 President, with the Union Medal. Wam

Sheikh Mohamed congratulated the teams on the conference's success, praising their roles in its organisation.

He lauded their achievement on reaching the historic UAE Consensus and praised their organisational and negotiating skills.

During the ceremony, Sheikh Mohamed said Cop28 was a success born out of collaboration and the efforts of various national institutions, organisations and people.

He also said that the success underscored the country's commitment to enhancing its pivotal global role in addressing climate change, promoting joint international action and fostering sustainability.

The Order of the Union was awarded to Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed, Deputy Ruler of Abu Dhabi and National Security Adviser; Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed, First Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Deputy Prime Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs; and Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Minister of Foreign Affairs and chairman of the higher committee for overseeing preparations to host Cop28.

Also awarded the Order of the Union were Sheikha Mariam bint Mohamed, chairwoman of the Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation; Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Cop28 President; and Mohammed Al Junaibi, chairman of the Federal Authority for Protocol and Strategic Narrative.

The award ceremony came two months after the UAE hosted Cop28, in which thousands of delegates and visitors gathered at Expo City Dubai.

The summit resulted in a historic deal, in which more than 200 countries agreed to start cutting back on fossil fuels.

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The bio

Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.

Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.

Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.

Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.

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MATCH INFO

Who: UAE v USA
What: first T20 international
When: Friday, 2pm
Where: ICC Academy in Dubai

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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.”