French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in India’s Jaipur city to a red-carpet reception on Thursday as he began his two-day state visit to the country, where he is the chief guest at the 75th Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi.
Mr Macron landed in Jaipur, known as the ‘Pink City’ in the western state of Rajasthan, around late afternoon and was received by India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and a welcome parade by elephants.
He spent the day visiting historical monuments including the 16th century Amer Fort, a Unesco World Heritage Site.
Mr Macron was greeted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a banquet and a motorcade. He then travelled to New Delhi where he will attend India’s Republic Day celebrations on Friday.
Mr Modi and Mr Macron are seen as having friendly personal relations. The two leaders have reinvigorated France-India ties.
The two countries are “strategic partners”, and the trip will “consolidate and deepen diplomatic and economic relations,” said the French President's office in a statement.
Mr Modi was the chief guest at France’s annual Bastille Day celebrations in July 2023, months before Mr Macron came to New Delhi to attend the G20 Leaders’ Summit.
The whole of the Indian city was decked up with billboards of the two leaders, while around 20,000 schoolchildren lined up along the route to the historic Amer Fort to greet the French President.
He waved at the enthusiastic children who chanted “Welcome, Macron”.
Mr Macron and Mr Modi later took out a motorcade rally, waving from the top of the vehicle at the hundreds of people gathered along the route.
They visited the Alberta Hall Museum, the 18th-century astronomical observation site the Jantar Mantar, and Hawa Mahal Palace, a palace with over 950 windows, also a Unesco World Heritage site.
Military and energy deals
The leaders later had dinner at the Rambagh Palace hotel, where they discussed bilateral and multilateral issues, according to media reports.
They are expected to finalise deals on India procuring 26 Rafale Marine combat aircraft from France as well as outline steps on the construction of three submarines in India, according to media reports.
New Delhi had initiated the $6 billion deal for the acquisition of the aircraft last year.
It has already procured 36 Rafale jets from France for its Air Force.
The leaders are also expected to discuss the ways to speed up the construction of six nuclear power plants in Jaitapur in India’s western state of Maharashtra.
India is building six nuclear power plants of 1,650 Megawatts. It is also proposing the construction of the largest clean energy plant with a total capacity of 9,900MW of electricity, in partnership with France.
The project is stalled due to technical, financial, and civil nuclear liability issues, according to the Indian government.
Republic Day celebrations
Mr Macron will attend the Republic Day parade on Friday morning.
A 95-member contingent from the French Foreign Legion and a 33-member band contingent from France will march down the Kartavya Path – the newly refurbished 3km boulevard connecting the President’s house to the India Gate.
India has a long-standing custom of inviting leaders from other countries to be chief guest for its Republic Day – the day it celebrates the adoption of the constitution in 1950.
Mr Macron is the sixth French leader to attend the event.
He will also visit a popular Muslim shrine in New Delhi before concluding his trip.
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
World Cricket League Division 2
In Windhoek, Namibia - Top two teams qualify for the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, which starts on March 4.
UAE fixtures
Thursday February 8, v Kenya; Friday February 9, v Canada; Sunday February 11, v Nepal; Monday February 12, v Oman; Wednesday February 14, v Namibia; Thursday February 15, final
Honeymoonish
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Arabian Gulf League fixtures:
Friday:
- Emirates v Hatta, 5.15pm
- Al Wahda v Al Dhafra, 5.25pm
- Al Ain v Shabab Al Ahli Dubai, 8.15pm
Saturday:
- Dibba v Ajman, 5.15pm
- Sharjah v Al Wasl, 5.20pm
- Al Jazira v Al Nasr, 8.15pm
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THREE
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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.”
