U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Alzayani during a joint press conference in Jerusalem on November 18, 2020. AP
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Alzayani during a joint press conference in Jerusalem on November 18, 2020. AP
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Alzayani during a joint press conference in Jerusalem on November 18, 2020. AP
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Alzayani during a joint press conference in Jerusalem on November 1

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US and Bahrain convene strategic dialogue

Talks began as kingdom sent second official delegation to Israel

Bryant Harris
Bryant Harris

December 01, 2020

  • English
  • Arabic

The US and Bahrain convened their first strategic dialogue on Tuesday as the Gulf kingdom took more steps to deepen ties with Israel.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the Bahraini Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdullatif Al Zayani, delivered opening remarks online to start the dialogue as a delegation from Manama arrived in Israel.

“There’s already more trade and investment between Bahrain and Israel in areas like telecoms and financial services in just a handful of weeks,” Mr Pompeo said.

“Indeed, when I was in Israel just a couple weeks back now, I greeted the first direct flight from Bahrain carrying the first cabinet-level delegation, including the foreign minister.

“We held a trilateral meeting to build on our progress, including by opening the door for an exchange of embassies between Israel and Bahrain.”

The Bahraini delegation to Israel, led by the Bahraini Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Zayed Al Zayani, is the second to visit since the two nations normalised ties in September by signing the Abraham Accord in Washington, alongside the UAE.

“We have moved so quickly to ensure that establishing diplomatic relations with Israel leads to a genuine, warm peace and the rapid development of economic, cultural and people-to-people ties,” Foreign Minister Al Zayani said in his opening remarks to Tuesday's dialogue.

Israel also launched its first commercial flight to the UAE on Tuesday.

The US and Bahraini governments plan to establish five working groups within the next few weeks as part of the dialogue.

“They’ll discuss how we can make sure that our two nations co-ordinate more in areas like military training and on women’s empowerment,” Mr Pompeo said.

The US finished its fourth strategic dialogue with Kuwait last month, and Washington held its first with the UAE in October, after the Accord was signed.

It also came after a strategic dialogue between the US and Saudi Arabia, during which Mr Pompeo publicly urged Riyadh to normalise ties with Israel.

White House senior adviser Jared Kushner arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday along with Avi Berkowitz, US President Donald Trump’s envoy for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Brian Hook, the State Department’s former co-ordinator for Iran policy.

Mr Kushner and his team will arrive in Qatar this week as part of their bid to address the Gulf dispute.

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  • Previously worked at The Guardian, BBC’s Newsnight programme and ITV News
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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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Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

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The specs

Price, base / as tested Dh960,000
Engine 3.9L twin-turbo V8 
Transmission Seven-speed dual-clutch automatic
Power 661hp @8,000rpm
Torque 760Nm @ 3,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 11.4L / 100k

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