Seven EU countries have started issuing Covid-19 vaccine certificates as Europe races to open up unrestricted travel across the bloc.
The European Commission said on Tuesday that Germany, Greece, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Croatia and Poland had begun recognising the vaccination status of travellers.
The scheme - known as the EU Digital Covid Certificate - allows people who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, have a recent negative test result or have recovered from the disease to travel to other nations in the bloc free from quarantine or other entry requirements.
While only seven countries are part of the pilot launch, the commission has set a July 1 deadline for the remaining 20 EU states to sign up.
A commission website - called a “gateway” - also went live on Tuesday, allowing border officers and other officials to check the validity of the certificates.
Stella Kyriakides, EU Commissioner for Health, said the system was fully functioning in time for the peak summer season.
“EU citizens are looking forward to travelling again, and they want to do so safely,” she said.
“Having an EU certificate is a crucial step on the way.”
Under the EU system, member states can apply an “emergency brake” to stop variants of concern.
Member states can also make entry rules more flexible on their own territory, for instance by permitting half-vaccinated people in with no restrictions, or those vaccinated with jabs authorised by the World Health Organisation but not the EU.
Commission officials said that once the EU Covid certificate was operational it would pave the way for allowing visitors from outside the bloc.
Currently, most member states have collectively agreed on a very restricted "white list" of low-risk countries whose residents can enter, including Australia, South Korea and Israel.
EU ambassador to the UK Joao Vale de Almeida said he was optimistic that by next month mass tourism would be possible across Europe.
“I hope many, many British citizens will come to our countries and I hope many EU citizens will visit the UK,” he told the BBC on Tuesday.
“I think everybody is doing their utmost to create those conditions.”
He said it was hoped the digital certificate would make travel safe again.
“That is the way that we are looking to implement,” he said. “But we have to respect the situation in each member state. We’re hopeful that some time later in the summer, around July, we could be in a situation where travel and tourism will be made a lot easier.”
Meanwhile, Germany's public health agency lowered the coronavirus risk level to "high" from "very high" for the first time in 2021, reflecting a fall in the number of new infections.
Health officials said a faster vaccination distribution, wider testing and the introduction of nationwide restrictions helped break a third wave of infections.
"In view of the developments - both in infection numbers and the situation in intensive care units - we see the dynamics that led us to the new evaluation," said Health minister Jens Spahn.
Abu Dhabi GP schedule
Friday: First practice - 1pm; Second practice - 5pm
Saturday: Final practice - 2pm; Qualifying - 5pm
Sunday: Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (55 laps) - 5.10pm
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TEAMS
EUROPE:
Justin Rose, Francesco Molinari, Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Alex Noren, Thorbjorn Olesen, Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson
USA:
Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Webb Simpson, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau ( 1 TBC)
STAGE 4 RESULTS
1 Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep - 4:51:51
2 David Dekker (NED) Team Jumbo-Visma
3 Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal
4 Elia Viviani (ITA) Cofidis
5 Matteo Moschetti (ITA) Trek-Segafredo
General Classification
1 Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates - 12:50:21
2 Adam Yates (GBR) Teamn Ineos Grenadiers - 0:00:43
3 Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep - 0:01:03
4 Chris Harper (AUS) Jumbo-Visma - 0:01:43
5 Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo - 0:01:45
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
THE BIO
Ms Al Ameri likes the variety of her job, and the daily environmental challenges she is presented with.
Regular contact with wildlife is the most appealing part of her role at the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi.
She loves to explore new destinations and lives by her motto of being a voice in the world, and not an echo.
She is the youngest of three children, and has a brother and sister.
Her favourite book, Moby Dick by Herman Melville helped inspire her towards a career exploring the natural world.
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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