A four-hour summit between US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Wednesday took place in a "constructive spirit" according to the Kremlin leader.
The summit at a Swiss lakeside villa was the final leg of Mr Biden's eight-day trip to Europe and was an effort to address the high tensions between Moscow and the West.
After the talks concluded, Mr Putin said the two sides had agreed to return US and Russian ambassadors to their posts after both diplomats were recalled earlier this year.
President Biden said the two men had discussed how to boost humanitarian aid into Syria as well as the challenges posed by Iran to the region and arms control. "The tone of the entire meeting was good, it was positive," he said.
The US leader said that America was not singling out Russia on issues such as human rights, an issue that was in the country's "DNA". He said the meeting was designed to set up a bilateral strategic dialogue to control new and dangerous weapons that are coming on the scene. He said he gave the Russians a list of 16 strategic areas that were off limits for cyber attacks.
"I told President Putin that my agenda was not against Russia," Mr Putin. "The bottom line is that I told President Putin we need to have some basic rules of the road that we can abide by.
He said the countries would hold further talks on cyber security and on strategic arms control discussions on the future of the world's two largest nuclear arsenals. A written statement confirmed Washington and Moscow would embark on an integrated bilateral Strategic Stability Dialogue that would lay the ground work for future arms control and risk reduction measures.
"There's been no hostility. On the contrary, our meeting took place in a constructive spirit," Mr Putin told a press conference.
"Both sides expressed their intentions to understand each other and to seek common ground. The talks were quite constructive."
Mr Biden came with a message that the US would stand up to cyber aggression from Moscow, after Russian operatives were repeatedly accused of meddling in US affairs.
He said he would tell Mr Putin that “if he chooses not to co-operate and acts in a way that he has in the past … then we will respond. We will respond in kind”.
The leaders got down to business in Geneva following a photo opportunity that descended into a chaotic scrum between the press pool and security forces.
Afterwards it was clear there was some progress as Mr Putin revealed officials would "would begin consultations on the full range of interaction on the diplomatic track". There was no mention by Mr Putin of talks on issues surrounding Iran, Libya or Syria.
Flanked by Mr Putin, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Mr Biden had opened the encounter saying it was "always better to meet face to face".
He described Mr Biden as "very different" from his predecessor, Donald Trump. "His predecessor had a different view," Mr Putin said. "This one decided to act differently. His reply was different from Trump’s."
High tensions
In April, Russia was hit with a series of sanctions in the aftermath of the SolarWinds attack on US government agencies.
Ransomware attacks were a significant topic of conversation, a senior official in Mr Biden's administration said. But the Russian leader was emphatic that the US was casting unwarranted blame on Russia.
“According to US sources the majority of cyberattacks in the world are performed from US cyberspace," he said. "The second one is Canada, then two Latin American states, and then the UK. Russia is not listed among the cyberspaces where the majority of cyberattacks come from.”
Swiss President Guy Parmelin had acted as the host for the talks, which proceeded without a break for food but were cut short from an initial three rounds to two.
Geneva was the location of a summit in 1985 between Ronald Reagan, US president at the time, and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Three decades after the end of the Cold War, the US and Russia still possess most of the world’s nuclear stockpile, and both have put more of their warheads into deployment.
Renewed for five years in January, New Start is the only remaining arms treaty between the two powers.
It was agreed in 2011, which was when Mr Biden last met Mr Putin, while serving as vice president under Barack Obama.
After attempting a "reset" of US-Russia relations, Mr Obama imposed sanctions on Russia over the annexation of Crimea and election interference, before leaving office in 2017.
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday that relations with Russia were at their lowest point since the Cold War.
The EU’s foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said on Wednesday that the prospect of better relations between Europe and Russia appeared more distant that ever.
"We believe that a renewed partnership, allowing us to realise the full potential of a close co-operation with Russia, is a distant prospect.
"The EU, therefore, needs to be realistic and prepare for a further downturn of our relations with Russia."
Mr Borrell was presenting a report that outlined how the EU could better manage relations with Russia.
The document said that “the potential for EU-Russia co-operation is considerable”.
“However, the Russian government is actively pursuing objectives that go in the opposite direction,” it added.
SHAITTAN
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVikas%20Bahl%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAjay%20Devgn%2C%20R.%20Madhavan%2C%20Jyothika%2C%20Janaki%20Bodiwala%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
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.”
Bahrain%20GP
%3Cp%3EFriday%20qualifying%3A%207pm%20(8pm%20UAE)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ESaturday%20race%3A%207pm%20(UAE)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ETV%3A%20BeIN%20Sports%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
Tributes from the UAE's personal finance community
• Sebastien Aguilar, who heads SimplyFI.org, a non-profit community where people learn to invest Bogleheads’ style
“It is thanks to Jack Bogle’s work that this community exists and thanks to his work that many investors now get the full benefits of long term, buy and hold stock market investing.
Compared to the industry, investing using the common sense approach of a Boglehead saves a lot in costs and guarantees higher returns than the average actively managed fund over the long term.
From a personal perspective, learning how to invest using Bogle’s approach was a turning point in my life. I quickly realised there was no point chasing returns and paying expensive advisers or platforms. Once money is taken care off, you can work on what truly matters, such as family, relationships or other projects. I owe Jack Bogle for that.”
• Sam Instone, director of financial advisory firm AES International
"Thought to have saved investors over a trillion dollars, Jack Bogle’s ideas truly changed the way the world invests. Shaped by his own personal experiences, his philosophy and basic rules for investors challenged the status quo of a self-interested global industry and eventually prevailed. Loathed by many big companies and commission-driven salespeople, he has transformed the way well-informed investors and professional advisers make decisions."
• Demos Kyprianou, a board member of SimplyFI.org
"Jack Bogle for me was a rebel, a revolutionary who changed the industry and gave the little guy like me, a chance. He was also a mentor who inspired me to take the leap and take control of my own finances."
• Steve Cronin, founder of DeadSimpleSaving.com
"Obsessed with reducing fees, Jack Bogle structured Vanguard to be owned by its clients – that way the priority would be fee minimisation for clients rather than profit maximisation for the company.
His real gift to us has been the ability to invest in the stock market (buy and hold for the long term) rather than be forced to speculate (try to make profits in the shorter term) or even worse have others speculate on our behalf.
Bogle has given countless investors the ability to get on with their life while growing their wealth in the background as fast as possible. The Financial Independence movement would barely exist without this."
• Zach Holz, who blogs about financial independence at The Happiest Teacher
"Jack Bogle was one of the greatest forces for wealth democratisation the world has ever seen. He allowed people a way to be free from the parasitical "financial advisers" whose only real concern are the fat fees they get from selling you over-complicated "products" that have caused millions of people all around the world real harm.”
• Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.org
"In an industry that’s synonymous with greed, Jack Bogle was a lone wolf, swimming against the tide. When others were incentivised to enrich themselves, he stood by the ‘fiduciary’ standard – something that is badly needed in the financial industry of the UAE."
