ABU DHABI // Asif Durrani, the Pakistani ambassador, has called for solemn celebrations for Pakistan Independence Day on Thursday to respect those suffering from continuing conflict there.
In June, the Pakistani military launched Operation Zarb-e-Azb to drive armed militants out of the North Waziristan region.
Masses of people have become refugees from the fighting and Mr Durrani said they should be remembered during Thursday’s celebrations.
“This year, the government aims to celebrate with all solemnity but at the same time we should also remember the plight of our 800,000 people who have been temporarily dislocated from North Waziristan,” he said.
Mr Durrani also appealed to the Pakistani community to donate to help the displaced of their country.
He will be marking his first Independence Day in the UAE, as he took up the post in February, and has applauded the contribution of community so far.
“The Pakistani diaspora in the UAE are wonderful, hard-working people and we are proud of them,” Mr Durrani said. “Their services have been duly acknowledged by our brothers in the UAE.
“The community has toiled in this country and earned a good name.”
Despite this, he said many children of Pakistani expatriates were not getting sufficient education.
“With 1.3 million people here, a second and third generation of Pakistanis are now living in the UAE.
“They have problems with education for their children, especially higher education, and we have not been able to cope with growing demand.
“Hence we are trying our best to not only improve the standard of our schools in the UAE, but also expanding these schools. And if needed, we may strive to open new schools as well as colleges in UAE.”
There are nine schools run by the embassy of Pakistan, including two in Abu Dhabi and one in Al Ain.
The consulate in Dubai takes care of the other six schools, in Dubai and the Northern Emirates.
Improving trade relations between Pakistan and the UAE is another important priority for Mr Durrani.
“At present our volume of trade is US$9 billion [Dh33.05bn], of which $6bn is UAE exports and $3bn is Pakistani exports to the UAE,” he said.
“My efforts will be to enhance investment in Pakistan and my focus will be meeting prospective investors.
“The UAE has invested $25bn in Pakistan and so far Pakistanis have invested around $23bn in the UAE, which includes real estate, industry and other businesses.”
Mr Durrani said the people of Pakistan had much respect for the people of the UAE and its leaders, and were grateful for the humanitarian help the country had received from them.
“We very much appreciate the positive contribution of UAE in assisting Pakistan during disasters such as 2005 earthquake and the floods in 2010 to 2011,” he said.
“More recently the UAE has contributed and assisted Pakistan for eradication of polio.
“Almost 4 million children have been given polio shots with the assistance of UAE. We are grateful for that.”
akhaishgi@thenational.ae
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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.”
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