Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi called on Friday for "full funds" to be allocated to UN's Palestinian refugee agency, following a financial crisis triggered by US funding cuts.
Mr Safadi spoke on behalf of King Abdullah of Jordan who cancelled a scheduled appearance at a security conference in Manama, Bahrain, after the deaths of at least 21 people in flash floods near the Dead Sea.
"A critical security concern for the region and the world is the long denial of Palestinian statehood. This conflict has been a global disrupter of peace and stability," Mr Safadi said, reading a statement written by King Abdullah at the The Manama Dialogue summit in Bahrain.
The minister called for schools and opportunities for the youth to be nurtured, and the full funding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
In September, the US administration described the organisation as "irredeemably flawed", announcing it had “carefully reviewed" the issue and "will not make additional contributions to UNRWA
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A spokesman for the agency, Chris Gunness, rejected Washington's decision.
"We reject in the strongest possible terms the criticism that UNRWA's schools, health centres, and emergency assistance programs are 'irredeemably flawed'," he said on Twitter.
The United States was by far the biggest contributor to the agency.
It received pledges of $118 million (DH433 million) from donor countries to help it overcome the crisis.
Kuwait and the European Union were among the biggest contributors along with Germany, Ireland and Norway.
The agency was founded in 1949 after the first Arab-Israeli war, in the wake of the exodus of around 700,000 refugees who fled or were driven out of Israel on its founding as a state.
UNRWA now looks after more than 5 million descendants of those original refugees, in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Palestinians assert the right under international law to return to homes abandoned in Israel or be compensated. Jordan says funding cuts to UNRWA undermine that right.
Mr Safadi urged the international community to assist Israel and Palestine in finding a durable two-state solution.
"In order for people to live in peace, they must be empowered to prepare for the day of peace," Mr Safadi said.
"Security and stability will not prevail until a two state solution is accepted," he said, adding that lasting peace cannot be unilateral.
A solution must be one that meets the needs of both sides, is fully in accord with international law and resolutions, that creates, a viable, independent, sovereign Palestinian state, on the 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
"Any such solution, based on unilateral acts and unequal rights, would be a moral disaster and a recipe for continued conflict," he warned.
“Peace can only be built by respecting the rights, hopes, and needs of both sides. This is the real security of peace,” he urged.
"We need all of you in the lead to help the international community work together, talk together, and keep to its principles," the minister said.
Uefa Nations League: How it Works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
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Best Academy: Ajax and Benfica
Best Agent: Jorge Mendes
Best Club : Liverpool
Best Coach: Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Best Goalkeeper: Alisson Becker
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Best Revelation Player: Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid and Portugal)
Best Sporting Director: Andrea Berta (Atletico Madrid)
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Kooora – Best Arab Club: Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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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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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
