Kfor soldiers from Germany remove a barricade in the village of Jagnjenica on Monday.
Kfor soldiers from Germany remove a barricade in the village of Jagnjenica on Monday.
Kfor soldiers from Germany remove a barricade in the village of Jagnjenica on Monday.
Kfor soldiers from Germany remove a barricade in the village of Jagnjenica on Monday.

Europe

Serbia bring down Kosovan barricades to open up EU ambitions

Serbs in a small slice of mainly-Albanian Kosovo, not controlled by Pristina, have been manning barricades since July in an attempt to prevent the Kosovo government seizing control of two border crossings there.

Reuters

December 08, 2011

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  • Arabic

MITROVICA, KOSOVO // Minority Serbs removed key barricades they controlled in Kosovo's lawless north yesterday, in a move expected to help Serbia clear a key hurdle on Friday in its bid to join the European Union.

Serbs in a small slice of mainly-Albanian Kosovo, not controlled by Pristina, have been manning barricades since July in an attempt to prevent the Kosovo government seizing control of two border crossings there.

Kosovo police, customs and Nato peacekeepers (Kfor) were seen checking vehicles at the northern Jarinje border crossing yesterday, the site of violent clashes earlier this year, a Reuters witness said.

Traffic was also moving smoothly through the village of Jagnjenica, where two German Nato soldiers were shot and wounded last week as they began removing a Serb-built roadblock.

Replacing barricades made of earth, logs and old cars and lorries, Kfor soldiers took just minutes to check drivers and their car trunks before waving them through the new barbed-wire checkpoints.

The easing of tensions came after Belgrade and Pristina last week struck a deal on joint management of border crossings, a key step in Serbia's effort to secure the status of candidate for EU membership on Dec 9.

"This demonstrates the ability of Serbs (from northern Kosovo) to implement all deals and it is the testimony to Serbia's determination to negotiable solutions," Serbian government spokesman Milivoje Mihajlovic told Reuters.

On Tuesday, Kosovo's prime minister, Hashim Thaci, said the border deal represented tacit recognition of Pristina's declaration of independence in 2008.

"The agreement is a tantamount to de jure recognition of the Republic of Kosovo by Serbia," Mr Thaci told his cabinet.

Serbia lost control over Kosovo in 1999 after a two-year war. Kosovo has been recognised by more than 80 countries, including the United States and most EU members.

Mr Mihajlovic dismissed Mr Thaci's remarks and said the border deal was in line with the United Nations resolution 1244 that regulated pullout of Serb forces from Kosovo and the deployment of Nato troops in 1999.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday welcomed the Kosovo border deal as consistent with resolution 1244 and called for more efforts aimed at defusing tensions.

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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.”