India and China hold talks in Delhi over border tension

Indian and Chinese foreign ministry officials met in New Delhi on Wednesday to discuss bilateral issues and “disengage” their militaries at friction points along their disputed border.

The two countries share a nearly 4,000km undemarcated border that traverses the Himalayas from Ladakh in the north to eastern Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, known as the line of actual control.

They have had frosty diplomatic relations since deadly clashes in 2020, when their troops fought in the Ladakh region.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs said a meeting on border affairs was held on Wednesday in Delhi.

The Indian team was led by Shilpak Ambule, the ministry's joint secretary for East Asia, while Hong Liang, director general of the Boundary and Oceanic Affairs Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, led China's team.

The sides discussed “disengagement in remaining areas in a frank and open manner”, the Indian ministry said. “Restoration of peace and tranquillity will create conditions for normalising bilateral relations,” it added.

Fighting along the line of control in May 2020 left 20 Indian soldiers dead.

The clashes triggered the mobilisation of tens of thousands of soldiers from both sides to the treacherous high-altitude border, where they fought a war in 1962.

While the troops disengaged from a key standoff point in the Ladakh region in September, the issues related to the boundary remain.

The Indian ministry said the sides agreed to hold another round of high-level military talks soon.

Senior military officials have spoken 18 times but have so-far failed to reach an agreement.

Indian and Chinese officials held in-person talks in Beijing in February.

Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar also spoke to Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang in May at the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation Foreign Ministers Council.

He said that “resolving outstanding issues and ensuring peace and tranquillity” in the border areas was the main focus.

The two ministers are expected to meet again at Thursday's Brics foreign ministers’ summit in Cape Town, South Africa.

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One 45-minute class per week in Standard Arabic is not sufficient

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Grade 1 curricula should include oral instruction in Standard Arabic

First graders must regularly practice individual letters and combinations

Time should be slotted in class to read longer passages in early grades

Improve the appearance of textbooks

Revision of curriculum should be undertaken as per research findings

Conjugations of most common verb forms should be taught

Systematic learning of Standard Arabic grammar

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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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India and China hold talks in Delhi over border tension

No agreement yet on 4,000km Himalayan boundary where deadly clashes took place in 2020

How to improve Arabic reading in early years

Breast cancer in men: the facts

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