Canada would like to accelerate the pace of talks with the UAE on concluding a foreign investment agreement, potentially a precursor to a fully fledged free trade deal, according to its international trade minister.
“What I want to do is bring new momentum to these negotiations to make sure we can conclude them in a relatively short period of time,” said François-Philippe Champagne in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
Talks on a Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (Fippa) have been continuing since 2014.
“Fippa is a first step towards a free-trade agreement,” he said.
A Fippa helps UAE investors in Canada get the same treatment as local companies and vice versa.
The UAE is Canada’s largest export market in the Middle East and North Africa and its 16th largest export market globally, with Canadian merchandise exports at C$1.8 billion (Dh4.94bn) in 2016. Imports from the UAE touched C$128 million.
“What a Fippa does is to provide protection for foreign investors,” said Mr Champagne, who was appointed to his role in January. “It is really about making sure we have fair rules between our countries when it comes to investment and historically when these agreements have been put into place you see an increase in trade.”
About 150 Canadian companies are registered in the UAE, where about 45,000 Canadians live.
“The UAE is a very attractive hub for Canadian companies, for small and medium-sized businesses to use obviously to export to the whole region,” said Mr Champagne.
UAE companies are already investors in Canada, with direct investment exceeding C$30bn in 2015.
Last year, DP World struck a deal to operate its first port on the east coast of Canada by leasing a 15-hectare container depot in New Brunswick. DP World bought Fairview container terminal in Prince Rupert on the west coast, in 2015, for C$580m and it also operates two other terminals there, Centerm terminal in Port Metro, Vancouver, and Duke Point Terminal in Nanaimo.
DP World and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Canada’s second largest pension fund, are also creating a US$3.7bn financial vehicle to invest globally, excluding the UAE.
Canada is pursuing an aggressive international trade agenda, with a focus on Japan, China and India. It also plans to pass a bill on the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement after it was ratified by the European Parliament last month.
Canada is part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade pact grouping 11 countries that border the Pacific Ocean – the US pulled out of it after Donald Trump became president. Canada and other signatories to the TPP are weighing their next move.
“We are going to play a constructive role because we see that [Pacific Ocean region] as a very, very important region,” said Mr Champagne. “Some of the fastest-growing economies of the world are in that region and Canada as a Pacific nation needs to be part of the initiatives that countries will decide to take part in, in that part of the world.”
Mr Champagne is also hopeful that Mr Trump will stick to the North American Free Trade Agreement between the US, Mexico and Canada, which he has said he would like to alter. The US is Canada’s biggest trade partner, with C$2.4bn worth of daily bilateral trade.
“We are open to sit down and listen but the comments of president Trump for me were an acknowledgement that we start from a very very strong base,” said Mr Champagne.
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Who is Mohammed Al Halbousi?
The new speaker of Iraq’s parliament Mohammed Al Halbousi is the youngest person ever to serve in the role.
The 37-year-old was born in Al Garmah in Anbar and studied civil engineering in Baghdad before going into business. His development company Al Hadeed undertook reconstruction contracts rebuilding parts of Fallujah’s infrastructure.
He entered parliament in 2014 and served as a member of the human rights and finance committees until 2017. In August last year he was appointed governor of Anbar, a role in which he has struggled to secure funding to provide services in the war-damaged province and to secure the withdrawal of Shia militias. He relinquished the post when he was sworn in as a member of parliament on September 3.
He is a member of the Al Hal Sunni-based political party and the Sunni-led Coalition of Iraqi Forces, which is Iraq’s largest Sunni alliance with 37 seats from the May 12 election.
He maintains good relations with former Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s State of Law Coaliton, Hadi Al Amiri’s Badr Organisation and Iranian officials.
Defending champions
World Series: South Africa
Women’s World Series: Australia
Gulf Men’s League: Dubai Exiles
Gulf Men’s Social: Mediclinic Barrelhouse Warriors
Gulf Vets: Jebel Ali Dragons Veterans
Gulf Women: Dubai Sports City Eagles
Gulf Under 19: British School Al Khubairat
Gulf Under 19 Girls: Dubai Exiles
UAE National Schools: Al Safa School
International Invitational: Speranza 22
International Vets: Joining Jack
Honeymoonish
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Elie%20El%20Samaan%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENour%20Al%20Ghandour%2C%20Mahmoud%20Boushahri%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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.”
BULKWHIZ PROFILE
Date started: February 2017
Founders: Amira Rashad (CEO), Yusuf Saber (CTO), Mahmoud Sayedahmed (adviser), Reda Bouraoui (adviser)
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce
Size: 50 employees
Funding: approximately $6m
Investors: Beco Capital, Enabling Future and Wain in the UAE; China's MSA Capital; 500 Startups; Faith Capital and Savour Ventures in Kuwait
