Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Philip Pierre, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, exchange gifts during a reception on day one of their platinum jubilee royal tour of the Caribbean. Getty
Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Philip Pierre, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, exchange gifts during a reception on day one of their platinum jubilee royal tour of the Caribbean. Getty
Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Philip Pierre, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, exchange gifts during a reception on day one of their platinum jubilee royal tour of the Caribbean. Getty
Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Philip Pierre, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, exchange gifts during a reception on day one of their platinum jubilee royal tour of the Car

Earl and Countess of Wessex receive guard of honour in St Lucia


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The Earl and Countess of Wessex exchanged gifts with the Prime Minister of Saint Lucia after they received a red carpet guard of honour on their arrival in the country.

Sophie and Edward on Friday began their seven-day tour of the Caribbean where they are also scheduled to visit two other nations, Antigua and Barbuda and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, after the 11th hour postponement of the Grenada leg of their trip.

The Platinum Jubilee tour was organised to mark the Queen's 70-year reign, and it comes shortly after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were criticised for some elements of their recent Caribbean tour, deemed to hark back to colonial days.

Sophie and Edward presented Prime Minister Philip Pierre with a photograph of themselves and a Jubilee box as a "token of appreciation" when they met him at his residence on Friday evening.

In return, Saint Lucia's PM gave the pair a painting of one of the island's turtles rolled up in a long black tube, and before discovering what the gift inside the tube was, Edward joked: "It's not a fishing rod."

The couple then signed the guest book to complete their first day of engagements.

Before meeting Mr Pierre, Sophie and Edward visited the acting governor general Cyril Errol Melchiades Charles.

On their arrival at Hewanorra International Airport earlier on Friday, the royals were greeted in the sunshine by the deputy prime minister Dr Ernest Hilaire and the aide-de-camp to the governor general, Captain Cyril Saltibus, after they disembarked their British Airways flight.

Sophie, wearing a red dress, joined her husband as they walked down the red carpet to a platform, where Edward stood to receive the guard of honour while the island's police band performed the country's national anthem.

Sophie, Countess of Wessex and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex smile as they arrive at Hewanorra International Airport. Getty
Sophie, Countess of Wessex and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex smile as they arrive at Hewanorra International Airport. Getty

The week-long tour will see Sophie and Edward "meet communities, local entrepreneurs and craftspeople, and young people" as well as athletes training for the Commonwealth Games.

No further details were given for Thursday's postponement of the Grenada leg of the tour.

It is understood that the planning of the royal tour involved discussions between the host countries, royal officials and other parties.

Name: Brendalle Belaza

From: Crossing Rubber, Philippines

Arrived in the UAE: 2007

Favourite place in Abu Dhabi: NYUAD campus

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UAE fixtures

Saturday, January 18, v Canada

Wednesday, January 22, v Afghanistan

Saturday, January 25, v South Africa

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UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)

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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.”

Updated: April 23, 2022, 3:41 AM