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UN Security Council extends cross-border aid to Syria by six months

US, UK and France abstain from vote, citing disagreement with shorter extension

The National

July 12, 2022

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The UN Security Council on Tuesday passed a resolution extending cross-border aid to Syria by six months.

Tuesday's agreement is similar to the duration that Russia had previously demanded while other member nations had sought a full year.

Twelve of the council's 15 members — including Russia, China and the Security Council's 10 non-permanent members — voted in favour of the measure.

Britain, France and the US abstained because they said the resolution does not go far enough to help the roughly four million Syrians in need of aid.

The US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said Washington could not back the resolution as it expires in January, in the middle of winter, the very moment humanitarian needs are at their most dire.

"That is the weakness of today’s resolution — it requires another action from the council to confirm what should be automatic," Ms Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement.

"Syrians could be left without blankets or fuel to heat their homes in the dead of winter ... children will freeze. People will starve. Lives hang in the balance."

Ireland and Norway, which sponsored the previously vetoed resolution, circulated a new draft on Monday that provides a six-month extension of deliveries from Turkey into Syria through the Bab Al Hawa crossing until January 10 of next year.

Bab Al Hawa is the only entry into the north-west region of Syria that does not cross government-held territories.

“Over four million people in north-west Syria are in dire need of humanitarian assistance, and the UN's cross-border aid operation provides a crucial lifeline for this,” Simon Coveney, the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, said in a statement.

Russia vetoed a year-long extension last week and the mechanism allowing aid deliveries expired on Sunday.

“The renewal of the cross-border humanitarian mechanism is a relief. But it is precarious, expiring in the dead of winter, with no firm guarantee of renewal,” the French mission to the UN said in a tweet.

Border aid deliveries from Turkey to Syria have been occurring since 2014 in response to the 2011 humanitarian crisis sparked by President Bashar Al Assad's violent crackdown on widespread anti-government protests.

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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.”

Updated: July 12, 2022, 3:53 PM
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