Britain and Saudi Arabia have signed a defence agreement with the aim of strengthening their combat air relationship and facing shared security challenges.
Ben Wallace, the UK’s defence secretary, signed the document during a meeting with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Khalid bin Salman, in Riyadh.
Mr Wallace’s trip to the kingdom provided an opportunity for him to reflect on the strength and depth of bilateral ties, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said.
The signing came after the UK and Saudi Arabia announced the Defence Co-operation Plan last December, in which both parties agreed to enhance teamwork through dialogue, education, training and capability building.
Photos of Wednesday’s meeting between Mr Wallace and Prince Khalid showed the pair signing the documents.
“It was a pleasure to meet with HRH Prince Khalid bin Salman, the Minister for Defence of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and build on the long history of UK-Saudi defence collaboration,” Mr Wallace said.
“The Statement of Intent signed today will strengthen our Saudi-UK combat air relationship and our ability to address shared security challenges for decades to come, supporting Saudi Vision 2030 aspirations.”
The Ministry of Defence noted the “strong and long-standing defence partnership” with Riyadh in a message posted on Twitter. The MoD said joint efforts to ensure peace and stability in the region were discussed by the ministers during their talks.
The Statement of Intent will initiate a partnering easibility study to explore how Britain and Saudi Arabia can best position their combat air relationship for the future.
Mr Wallace also attended meetings with other members of the Saudi government during his three-day visit from Tuesday to Thursday.
Both sides expressed a desire to forge closer industrial collaboration, to develop key capabilities and boost prosperity in both nations, including in support of Saudi Vision 2030 objectives.
The Secretary of Defence expressed his gratitude to Saudi Arabia after the recent commitment of £341 million ($410 million) in aid for Ukraine, the MoD said. The package was announced during Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud’s visit to Kyiv last weekend.
In a tweet, Prince Khalid emphasised Saudi Arabia's intent to participate in the Future Combat Air System programme (FCAS), which will include joint research and development projects for future air systems.
Prince Khalid said he had signed a "declaration of KSA’s intent to participate in the Future Combat Air System programme, which will strengthen KSA’s defensive capabilities".
But defence analysts cautioned that such alliances typically take months or years to negotiate.
FCAS is an acronym widely used for next-generation fighter projects, including the British-led Tempest programme that was recently expanded to include Japan under a new framework called Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP).
The UK's MoD clarified the matter, saying the Statement of Intent "is distinct from the UK-IT-Japan GCAP, or FCAS programmes".
A report from the Saudi Press Agency said areas covered by the declaration included "defining a comprehensive and joint vision for the future partnership for air combat operations" and discussing partnerships that "meet the needs of the required capabilities".
It said identifying industrial participation projects and joint research and development were also included.
Plans to develop an FCAS were first announced in 2017 by French President Emmanuel Macron and then German chancellor Angela Merkel.
Since then, a British-led FCAS being developed with Japan and Italy has also been announced.
The British project is billed as a “game-changing” fighter jet that will harness artificial intelligence for future combat.
The aircraft, named Tempest by the Royal Air Force, will be the most sophisticated jet in operation when it takes to the skies in 2035.
It will not have any dials in the cockpit and an in-built AI brain will allow it to remain in combat if the pilot loses consciousness.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the fighter would be at the “cutting-edge of advancements in defence technology".
It was designed to replace the Eurofighter and the Dassault Rafale with a combination of manned and unmanned aircraft from 2040.
France, Germany and Spain last year reached a deal to start the next phase of creating a fighter jet in Europe's largest defence project, which has an estimated cost of more than €100 billion ($103.4 billion).
The FCAS is intended to be in service by 2040 but has been plagued by months of disagreement between Airbus and Dassault Aviation.
Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
Penguin Press
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
FFP EXPLAINED
What is Financial Fair Play?
Introduced in 2011 by Uefa, European football’s governing body, it demands that clubs live within their means. Chiefly, spend within their income and not make substantial losses.
What the rules dictate?
The second phase of its implementation limits losses to €30 million (Dh136m) over three seasons. Extra expenditure is permitted for investment in sustainable areas (youth academies, stadium development, etc). Money provided by owners is not viewed as income. Revenue from “related parties” to those owners is assessed by Uefa's “financial control body” to be sure it is a fair value, or in line with market prices.
What are the penalties?
There are a number of punishments, including fines, a loss of prize money or having to reduce squad size for European competition – as happened to PSG in 2014. There is even the threat of a competition ban, which could in theory lead to PSG’s suspension from the Uefa Champions League.
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Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
Springtime in a Broken Mirror,
Mario Benedetti, Penguin Modern Classics
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City, Tuesday, 11pm (UAE)
Matches can be watched on BeIN Sports
Villains
Queens of the Stone Age
Matador
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.”
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
The bio
Who inspires you?
I am in awe of the remarkable women in the Arab region, both big and small, pushing boundaries and becoming role models for generations. Emily Nasrallah was a writer, journalist, teacher and women’s rights activist
How do you relax?
Yoga relaxes me and helps me relieve tension, especially now when we’re practically chained to laptops and desks. I enjoy learning more about music and the history of famous music bands and genres.
What is favourite book?
The Perks of Being a Wallflower - I think I've read it more than 7 times
What is your favourite Arabic film?
Hala2 Lawen (Translation: Where Do We Go Now?) by Nadine Labaki
What is favourite English film?
Mamma Mia
Best piece of advice to someone looking for a career at Google?
If you’re interested in a career at Google, deep dive into the different career paths and pinpoint the space you want to join. When you know your space, you’re likely to identify the skills you need to develop.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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South Korea
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
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Price: From Dh117,059
MATCH INFO
Fixture: Thailand v UAE, Tuesday, 4pm (UAE)
TV: Abu Dhabi Sports
