ABU DHABI // The UAE Navy yesterday took command of a multinational task force in the Gulf famed for its battles against terrorism and against the trafficking of people and drugs.
The Navy will be in charge of the Task Force 152 fleet that includes frigates, support ships and patrol boats from the UK, the US and GCC states, among other nations.
The Navy, which is headed by Rear Admiral Ahmed al Tunaiji, will lead the force for the next three months, taking command from the British.
The command is possibly the biggest undertaking in the UAE Navy's history in terms of the body of water covered and the diversity of personnel manning the fleet. Ships and men also come from Australia as well as Asian countries including Japan and South Korea.
The task force, founded in 2004, is part of the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), a coalition of 24 countries that conduct operations over a 2.4-million-square-mile expanse of water that includes, besides the Gulf, the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.
The CMF has two other forces. One, code-named CTF150, is a counter-terrorism force operating in the Gulf of Oman, the Red Sea and in areas as far as the Seychelles. The other, CTF151, is mainly focused on countering Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden.
"We know that a lot of the narcotics that come out of Afghanistan - transit into the Gulf and also transit down further out into the Indian Ocean," said Commodore Tim Lowe, the deputy commander of the CMF and the UK Maritime Component Command (UKMCC) in Bahrain.
"So, by intercepting that activity we are directly hitting one of the funding streams for the terrorists. With the human-smuggling side, we are conscious that there may be terrorists moving as part of that grouping as well, so we're constantly on the lookout for that sort of activity."
Taking command of the force means the UAE Navy's officers will oversee such missions on a daily basis.
Among the vessels that fall under their command is the UK frigate HMS Monmouth, which is the seventh ship to take this name; the first was an eight-gun yacht built in 1666; the sixth was an armoured cruiser that was sunk in 1914, during the First World War.
Commodore Lowe, who handed over command to the UAE at a ceremony at Abu Dhabi's naval operations centre yesterday, said having such a force in the Gulf was vital.
"The Gulf area is a very complex," he said. "Lots of potentially illegal maritime activity, a lot of maritime infrastructure oil wells, gas heads, water [and] being an absolute critical area, of course."
"In case of terrorist attack or environmental disaster [the region] will need protection and, therefore, CTF152 is focused on creating a coherent grouping of nations that could work together in case crisis occurs - and that crisis could be anything."
The force has been commanded for the past five years either from sea or from Bahrain.
Among the nations that have taken command are the US, the UK, Italy and Bahrain, which was in command during the summer of last year.
Commodore Lowe said that the CMF left it to its member navies to decide whether they wanted to take part in taking command.
"One of my key roles - is to help [GCC navies] build their command-and-control capabilities," he added.
He said that since the UAE navy is less than four decades old, "looking to command a multinational task force is a quite a big thing".
The UAE command will be focused on its territorial waters but "is also looking all the way up to the northern Gulf; to Iraqi and Kuwaiti territorial waters and then all the way out to the Strait of Hormuz".
The UAE has regularly contributed one patrol boat to the CMF command, according to Commodore Lowe.
For specific exercises, the UAE had provided larger ships as well as helicopters.
Commodore Lowe also said he felt "a great sense of pride for the UAE, for the UK and the Combined Maritime Forces and for the US in that we've helped work together, we supported it and we deliver this change of command".
mhabboush@thenational.ae
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How Voiss turns words to speech
The device has a screen reader or software that monitors what happens on the screen
The screen reader sends the text to the speech synthesiser
This converts to audio whatever it receives from screen reader, so the person can hear what is happening on the screen
A VOISS computer costs between $200 and $250 depending on memory card capacity that ranges from 32GB to 128GB
The speech synthesisers VOISS develops are free
Subsequent computer versions will include improvements such as wireless keyboards
Arabic voice in affordable talking computer to be added next year to English, Portuguese, and Spanish synthesiser
Partnerships planned during Expo 2020 Dubai to add more languages
At least 2.2 billion people globally have a vision impairment or blindness
More than 90 per cent live in developing countries
The Long-term aim of VOISS to reach the technology to people in poor countries with workshops that teach them to build their own device
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.”
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
