Turkey will begin the process of ratifying Finland's Nato membership, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.
He said Sweden's application would have to wait for further talks. Almost simultaneously, fellow holdout Hungary said it would hold a vote on Finland's bid on March 27.
The US welcomed Mr Erdogan’s announcement and said it looked forward to the prompt conclusion of the approval process.
Announcing the breakthrough after 10 months of negotiations, Mr Erdogan said Finland had taken “authentic and concrete steps” to address Turkish security grievances.
“Nato will become stronger with Finland's membership, and I believe it will play an active role in maintaining global security and stability,” he said.
Turkey and Hungary are the last Nato members to give their verdict and their moves pave the way for Finland to become the 31st member of the military alliance.
Speaking alongside Mr Erdogan on a visit to Ankara on Friday, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said it was “very good to hear this news”.
But he said Finnish membership in Nato “is not complete without Sweden” because of their shared security interests.
“We encourage Turkey to quickly ratify Sweden’s accession protocols as well,” the White House said.
“In addition, we urge Hungary to conclude its ratification process for both Finland and Sweden without delay. Sweden and Finland are both strong, capable partners that share Nato’s values and will strengthen the alliance and contribute to European security.
“The United States believes that both countries should become members of Nato as soon as possible.”
Hungary's ruling party will vote “unanimously yes” on Finland but “decide later” on Sweden, said its parliamentary leader Mate Kocsis.
Senior Nato figures welcomed what Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said would be the fastest accession in the alliance's modern history despite the delays.
“I look forward to a rapid conclusion of the accession process, and to welcoming both Finland and Sweden to the Nato family as full members as soon as possible,” Mr Stoltenberg said.
Sweden and Finland turned a page on decades of non-alignment to seek Nato membership after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
They hoped to enter jointly but Turkey's objections to their security and counter-terrorism policy have delayed the process.
Turkey sought a harder line from both countries on Kurdish dissidents that it considers terrorists, while the public burning of a Quran in Sweden further aggravated Mr Erdogan.
He said on Friday that Turkey had sent Sweden a list of 120 alleged terrorists but that none had been extradited.
“How the process will progress will be directly linked to the concrete steps which Sweden will take,” he said.
Hungary, which has several quarrels with Nato and the EU, has long delayed scheduling a vote despite saying it supports Finland and Sweden.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban last month accused them of “blatant lies” about democracy and the rule of law in Hungary.
Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said it regretted Turkey's decision to hold off moving forward on his country's Nato bid, while pushing ahead with that of Finland.
“This is a development that we did not want, but that we were prepared for,” Mr Billstrom said.
Allies have offered assurances that they would assist Sweden if it were attacked before joining Nato.
The UK “will stand shoulder to shoulder with Sweden against any Russian intimidation,” Britain's Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said on Friday.
Finland and Sweden already carry out joint exercises with Nato and regularly attend alliance meetings.
Full membership will bring them under the protection of Nato's Article 5 mutual defence guarantee. US President Biden has promised to defend “every inch” of alliance territory.
Finland's accession will more than double the length of Nato's land border with Russia, in what alliance leaders have described as a case of backfiring Kremlin policy.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that Russia posed no threat to Finland or Sweden and regretted their requests to join Nato.
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
if you go
The flights
Air Astana flies direct from Dubai to Almaty from Dh2,440 per person return, and to Astana (via Almaty) from Dh2,930 return, both including taxes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Ritz-Carlton Almaty cost from Dh1,944 per night including taxes; and in Astana the new Ritz-Carlton Astana (www.marriott) costs from Dh1,325; alternatively, the new St Regis Astana costs from Dh1,458 per night including taxes.
When to visit
March-May and September-November
Visas
Citizens of many countries, including the UAE do not need a visa to enter Kazakhstan for up to 30 days. Contact the nearest Kazakhstan embassy or consulate.
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.”
On the menu
First course
▶ Emirati sea bass tartare Yuzu and labneh mayo, avocado, green herbs, fermented tomato water
▶ The Tale of the Oyster Oyster tartare, Bahraini gum berry pickle
Second course
▶ Local mackerel Sourdough crouton, baharat oil, red radish, zaatar mayo
▶ One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Quail, smoked freekeh, cinnamon cocoa
Third course
▶ Bahraini bouillabaisse Venus clams, local prawns, fishfarm seabream, farro
▶ Lamb 2 ways Braised lamb, crispy lamb chop, bulgur, physalis
Dessert
▶ Lumi Black lemon ice cream, pistachio, pomegranate
▶ Black chocolate bar Dark chocolate, dates, caramel, camel milk ice cream
Day 1 results:
Open Men (bonus points in brackets)
New Zealand 125 (1) beat UAE 111 (3)
India 111 (4) beat Singapore 75 (0)
South Africa 66 (2) beat Sri Lanka 57 (2)
Australia 126 (4) beat Malaysia -16 (0)
Open Women
New Zealand 64 (2) beat South Africa 57 (2)
England 69 (3) beat UAE 63 (1)
Australia 124 (4) beat UAE 23 (0)
New Zealand 74 (2) beat England 55 (2)
Also on December 7 to 9, the third edition of the Gulf Car Festival (www.gulfcarfestival.com) will take over Dubai Festival City Mall, a new venue for the event. Last year's festival brought together about 900 cars worth more than Dh300 million from across the Emirates and wider Gulf region – and that first figure is set to swell by several hundred this time around, with between 1,000 and 1,200 cars expected. The first day is themed around American muscle; the second centres on supercars, exotics, European cars and classics; and the final day will major in JDM (Japanese domestic market) cars, tuned vehicles and trucks. Individuals and car clubs can register their vehicles, although the festival isn’t all static displays, with stunt drifting, a rev battle, car pulls and a burnout competition.
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