The US House of Representatives has unanimously passed a legislative amendment that would partially cut military aid to Azerbaijan following the country's offensive against Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh region last year.
Proposed by Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone for the 2022 budget, the amendment was passed late Wednesday and states that “none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this act under ‘International Military Education and Training’ and ‘Foreign Military Financing Programme’ may be made available for Azerbaijan".
US security aid to Azerbaijan had increased to $100 million per year in 2019 under former president Donald Trump.
The Pallone Amendment blames this assistance for empowering Baku's destabilising policies.
“The more than $120m in military aid the US has recklessly provided Azerbaijan has emboldened the tyrannical regime in Baku, materially empowering their ethnic cleansing in Artsakh last September and encouraging Baku to continue invading and occupying Armenian land today,” the amendment read.
But the amendment does not block the discretionary assistance the US Department of Defence provides to Azerbaijan.
It also includes language that would require Secretary of State Antony Blinken to consider “the military balance between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the diplomatic consequences of such disparity in military assistance” when issuing next year’s waiver allowing for US security assistance to be sent to Baku.
A report accompanying the amendment calls for boosting aid to Armenia “for economic development, private sector productivity, energy independence, democracy and the rule of law, and other purposes".
Ryan Bohl, a security analyst at the intelligence firm Stratfor, said the bipartisan support for the amendment “reflects rising pro-Armenia sentiment in Congress”, even though the scope of the bill is limited.
“It's symbolic of the return of human rights in American foreign policy under Joe Biden,” he said.
President Joe Biden recognised the Armenian Genocide last April, in a further display of the pro-Armenia mood in the US government. But the White House has been more cautious when it comes to aid to Azerbaijan.
Last April, Mr Biden extended a waiver allowing for US assistance to Azerbaijan under Section 907.
Mr Bohl said that the Biden administration wants to preserve critical interests with Baku.
“Azerbaijan is warm to Israel and warm to the US against Russia and Iran. While it's not a close relationship, Washington sees the geostrategic position of Baku as something they should try to keep in their back pocket and not necessarily fully sacrifice over human rights,” the expert explained.
On Wednesday night, the US State Department issued a statement calling for a halt to the fighting that recently resumed in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
“We call on Armenia and Azerbaijan to uphold their ceasefire commitments by taking immediate steps to de-escalate the situation,” department spokesman Ned Price said.
He also urged both sides to return to the negotiating table under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group to achieve a long-term political settlement to the conflict.
The Pallone Amendment will now go to the Senate for a vote as part of the full foreign aid spending bill before it becomes law.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Start-up hopes to end Japan's love affair with cash
Across most of Asia, people pay for taxi rides, restaurant meals and merchandise with smartphone-readable barcodes — except in Japan, where cash still rules. Now, as the country’s biggest web companies race to dominate the payments market, one Tokyo-based startup says it has a fighting chance to win with its QR app.
Origami had a head start when it introduced a QR-code payment service in late 2015 and has since signed up fast-food chain KFC, Tokyo’s largest cab company Nihon Kotsu and convenience store operator Lawson. The company raised $66 million in September to expand nationwide and plans to more than double its staff of about 100 employees, says founder Yoshiki Yasui.
Origami is betting that stores, which until now relied on direct mail and email newsletters, will pay for the ability to reach customers on their smartphones. For example, a hair salon using Origami’s payment app would be able to send a message to past customers with a coupon for their next haircut.
Quick Response codes, the dotted squares that can be read by smartphone cameras, were invented in the 1990s by a unit of Toyota Motor to track automotive parts. But when the Japanese pioneered digital payments almost two decades ago with contactless cards for train fares, they chose the so-called near-field communications technology. The high cost of rolling out NFC payments, convenient ATMs and a culture where lost wallets are often returned have all been cited as reasons why cash remains king in the archipelago. In China, however, QR codes dominate.
Cashless payments, which includes credit cards, accounted for just 20 per cent of total consumer spending in Japan during 2016, compared with 60 per cent in China and 89 per cent in South Korea, according to a report by the Bank of Japan.
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.”
Planes grounded by coronavirus
British Airways: Cancels all direct flights to and from mainland China
Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific: Cutting capacity to/from mainland China by 50 per cent from Jan. 30
Chicago-based United Airlines: Reducing flights to Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong
Ai Seoul: Suspended all flights to China
Finnair: Suspending flights to Nanjing and Beijing Daxing until the end of March
Indonesia's Lion Air: Suspending all flights to China from February
South Korea's Asiana Airlines, Jeju Air and Jin Air: Suspend all flights
