Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Abraham Accord marked a "warm" peace with the UAE that had led to a surge in economic opportunities, as diplomats made the first moves towards restarting the stalled Palestinian-Israeli peace process.
Addressing the World Economic Forum's Davos 2021 on Wednesday, he said agreements on normalisation of relations with the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco would change the region in a positive way.
"Everyone in Israel is supremely delighted with the peace that we have," Mr Netanyahu said.
“It’s going to be great because the Emirates have proved to be – as I’ve always seen them – tremendously entrepreneurial, and they’re guided by a visionary leader [who] understands the power of innovation and the power to dare, to dream,” the veteran Israeli leader said in his virtual address.
Mr Netanyahu described a “new kind of peace that is changing relations between Israelis and Arabs, and I have to tell you, Arabs and Jews in Israel too. I means it’s unbelievable what this is doing.”
As the prime minister was speaking, officials in New York were briefed on new efforts to revive the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians by inviting Arab ministers to talks on the decades-old conflict with the UN, US and European Union in the coming months.
Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy told reporters that Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain could join the Quartet format that has seen the US, EU, Russia and the UN attempt to broker agreements. The Arab representatives could be invited to a “Quartet plus” ministerial-level video conference in the late spring or early summer.
Mr Polyanskiy described an opportunity for renewed diplomacy after “encouraging initial signals” from US President Joe Biden, who has quickly distanced himself from the previous Trump administration’s deal-making, which favoured Israel and was rejected by Palestinians.
“Now we see some encouraging signals from the new administration that would be more devoted to collective efforts and formats
At the Davos meeting, the Israeli leader also spoke about Covid-19 pandemic and the vaccination drive that has seen Israel and the UAE emerge as global leaders. Israel has inoculate more 30 per cent of its population of nine million with at least a first dose.
The UAE has distributed 27.07 doses per 100 people of its population – or 2.67 million.
"We're in an arms race, except it's not an arms race, it's a race between vaccination and [virus] mutations?," Mr Netanyahu said.
He told Davos that Israel had purchased lots of vaccines fast and hadn't quibbled about the cost.
But he added that the most pressing issue at the moment is what level of protection the vaccine would give to individuals and how successful it would be in preventing infection when the economy opened up.
"There are more mutations and there will be more mutations in the future. It means we have to race as fast as we can to vaccinate first the risk groups in the population and then everyone else in order to give immunity, and then probably expect the companies that are producing the vaccines at this point to modify their vaccines to accommodate mutations that they don't cover now as they develop, and then we'll have to purchase them.
“That's going to be our life for the coming years. I don’t think that we’re going to evade that, but we can overcome it."
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About Proto21
Date started: May 2018
Founder: Pir Arkam
Based: Dubai
Sector: Additive manufacturing (aka, 3D printing)
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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.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Engine 60kwh FWD
Battery Rimac 120kwh Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (LiNiMnCoO2) chemistry
Power 204hp Torque 360Nm
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Steve Smith (capt), David Warner, Cameron Bancroft, Jackson Bird, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Chadd Sayers, Mitchell Starc.
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- 71 - Years since the death of MK Gandhi, also christened India's Father of the Nation
- 34 - Nationalities featured in the film The Gandhi Murder
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Transmission: Eight-speed auto
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The specs: 2019 Lincoln MKC
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Transmission: Six-speed automatic
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Dubai World Cup nominations
UAE: Thunder Snow/Saeed bin Suroor (trainer), North America/Satish Seemar, Drafted/Doug Watson, New Trails/Ahmad bin Harmash, Capezzano, Gronkowski, Axelrod, all trained by Salem bin Ghadayer
USA: Seeking The Soul/Dallas Stewart, Imperial Hunt/Luis Carvajal Jr, Audible/Todd Pletcher, Roy H/Peter Miller, Yoshida/William Mott, Promises Fulfilled/Dale Romans, Gunnevera/Antonio Sano, XY Jet/Jorge Navarro, Pavel/Doug O’Neill, Switzerland/Steve Asmussen.
Japan: Matera Sky/Hideyuki Mori, KT Brace/Haruki Sugiyama. Bahrain: Nine Below Zero/Fawzi Nass. Ireland: Tato Key/David Marnane. Hong Kong: Fight Hero/Me Tsui. South Korea: Dolkong/Simon Foster.
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Fixtures:
Wed Aug 29 – Malaysia v Hong Kong, Nepal v Oman, UAE v Singapore
Thu Aug 30 - UAE v Nepal, Hong Kong v Singapore, Malaysia v Oman
Sat Sep 1 - UAE v Hong Kong, Oman v Singapore, Malaysia v Nepal
Sun Sep 2 – Hong Kong v Oman, Malaysia v UAE, Nepal v Singapore
Tue Sep 4 - Malaysia v Singapore, UAE v Oman, Nepal v Hong Kong
Thu Sep 6 – Final
Dubai World Cup factbox
Most wins by a trainer: Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor(9)
Most wins by a jockey: Jerry Bailey(4)
Most wins by an owner: Godolphin(9)
Most wins by a horse: Godolphin’s Thunder Snow(2)
Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage
Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid
Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani
Rating: 4/5
Bio:
Favourite Quote: Prophet Mohammad's quotes There is reward for kindness to every living thing and A good man treats women with honour
Favourite Hobby: Serving poor people
Favourite Book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite food: Fish and vegetables
Favourite place to visit: London
