The Turkish research vessel 'Oruc Reis' is escorted by naval ships in contested waters in the Mediterranean, causing friction with European countries. AFP/Turkish Defence Ministry
The Turkish research vessel 'Oruc Reis' is escorted by naval ships in contested waters in the Mediterranean, causing friction with European countries. AFP/Turkish Defence Ministry
The Turkish research vessel 'Oruc Reis' is escorted by naval ships in contested waters in the Mediterranean, causing friction with European countries. AFP/Turkish Defence Ministry
The Turkish research vessel 'Oruc Reis' is escorted by naval ships in contested waters in the Mediterranean, causing friction with European countries. AFP/Turkish Defence Ministry

Turkey and Greece to resume talks over disputed waters


Soraya Ebrahimi
  • English
  • Arabic

Turkey and Greece will this month resume long-suspended talks over territorial claims in the Mediterranean Sea that brought them close to conflict last year.

The two Nato members will meet on January 25 in Istanbul, they said on Monday.

Ankara and Athens held 60 rounds of talks from 2002 to 2016, but plans to resume talks last year floundered after disagreement over a Turkish seismic exploration vessel in disputed waters.

The ship has since returned to Turkey.

Earlier on Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said he was inviting Greece for talks by the end of January on all issues, adding that Athens "has no excuse" because the Oruc Reis  had returned to Turkey.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said later that Athens was seeking a "fertile and productive" relationship with its neighbour Turkey, and that his government would join the talks when they were finalised.

Turkey and Greece are at odds over the extent of their continental shelves in the Mediterranean, energy rights in the region, air space and some islands in the Aegean Sea.

Their dispute threatened to become open conflict when Turkish and Greek warships collided in August as they shadowed the Oruc Reis  while it surveyed for oil and gas west of Cyprus.

Previous attempts to resume the talks had been complicated by what both sides were prepared to discuss.

The Greek Foreign Ministry said on Monday that it was willing to talk about demarcation of an exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf.

Ankara has said all issues between the Nato members should be discussed, as was the format before the talks were suspended in 2016.

On Monday, Mr Cavusoglu said he was ready to meet Greek Foreign Minister Niko Dendias in Tirana after Albania's prime minister offered to mediate.

He said some EU members, including Germany, which has mediated the dispute thus far, had urged Greece to engage with Turkey.

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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.”

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