US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. AFP
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. AFP
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. AFP
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. AFP

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Asia

Blinken meets India's Jaishankar ahead of high-level talks in New Delhi

The Secretary of State will be joined by US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin

Taniya Dutta
Taniya Dutta
New Delhi

November 10, 2023

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi on Friday and discussed west Asian, Indo-Pacific and regional issues.

“Pleased to meet with Secretary of State Blinken this morning,” Mr Jaishankar, India's External Affairs Minister, said on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, after the meeting.

“An open and productive conversation on further developing our strategic partnership. Also spoke about west Asia, Indo-Pacific and other regional issues.”

Mr Blinken, who arrived in the Indian capital on Thursday evening, will hold meetings with Mr Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh as part of the fifth 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue.

He will be joined by US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, who also arrived in New Delhi.

Both US officials will hold separate meetings with their Indian counterparts on the sidelines of the dialogue.

“A warm welcome to US Secretary of State Secretary Blinken as he arrives in New Delhi to co-chair the 5th India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue,” Arindam Bagchi, External Affairs Ministry spokesman, said on X.

“The visit will give further boost to India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership.”

The leaders are expected to discuss issues such as security and the Israel-Gaza conflict during the talks, India’s External Affairs Ministry said earlier.

They will review the progress made in defence and security co-operation, technology value-chain collaborations and people relations.

“The ministers will take the opportunity to progress the futuristic road map for the India-US partnership as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden, in their discussions in June and September this year,” the External Affairs Ministry said.

India, the world’s largest democracy and the US, the oldest continuous democracy, share strategic, diplomatic, defence and trade partnerships and people relations.

There are more than 50 dialogue initiatives between the two governments, according to India's Ministry of External Affairs, including the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue that has been held since 2018.

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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: November 10, 2023, 7:26 AM
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