The annual summit of heads of state of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday in Kuwait despite the ongoing Qatar crisis.
Kuwaiti foreign minister Sheikh Sabah Al Khaled told fellow GCC ministers on Monday that the dispute would have to be addressed over the two days, even if not resolved, sources present at their meeting told The National.
The meeting at Al Bayan Palace was the highest-level direct contact the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain have had with Qatar since they imposed a boycott on their fellow GCC state on June 5, accusing it of supporting terrorism and extremist groups.
Sheikh Sabah used the meeting to lay the groundwork for a possible resolution to the crisis, warning the ministers that the integrity of the GCC cannot be compromised, the sources said.
Oman’s minister of state for foreign affairs Yussef bin Alawi, whose country has remained neutral in the dispute, sat between Qatari foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed Al Thani and his Saudi counterpart, Adel Al Jubeir.
Kuwait has played mediator and acted as a conduit for communication between the boycotting countries and Qatar. A flurry of recent messages sent to the Kuwaiti capital are believed to be confirmations of attendance for the summit, which had been in doubt because of the dispute.
The opening of the first session, behind closed doors, will take place at Bayan Palace on Tuesday at 5.30pm, after which the leaders will attend an official dinner hosted by the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah.
On Wednesday, the leaders are expected to convene for the second closed session at 11.30am.
A joint press conference will be held at 12.30pm between Kuwait’s first deputy prime minister and foreign minister Sheikh Sabah Al Khaled Al Hamad Al Sabah and Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, secretary general of the GCC.
According to the agenda of the meeting, there will be four sessions in total for the summit.
The summit going ahead despite the stand-off reflects the efforts of Sheikh Sabah, Kuwait’s 88-year old monarch who was pivotal in resolving a similar diplomatic row between the three countries and Qatar in 2014. He has a track record as a bridge-builder, having served as foreign minister from 1965 to 2003.
Leaders from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain are in large part attending the summit to ensure Kuwati’s hosting of the summit is successful, and in line with the GCC’s 36-year history of annual summits. The Qatar crisis was not officially on the agenda and a resolution seemed unlikely as Qatar has not responded to the demands of the boycotting countries.
However, while Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim Al Thani will reportedly be attending, it was still not clear who will represent Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain. Kuwait's traffic authority said most major roads from the airport to the meeting venue would be closed on Tuesday morning, suggesting the arrival of heads of state.
Security forces in Kuwait have been put on standby, and heavily armed soldiers were guarding Bayan Palace and the Jumeirah Hotel, where many delegation members are staying.
Anwar Gargash, UAE’s minister of state for foreign affairs, said on Monday that he was “happy” to be in Kuwait.
“Happy to be in the brotherly [country of] Kuwait, the land of Al Sabah and of authentic and loyal people,” he said on Twitter. “Kuwait remains dear to the heart of every Emirati forever and always.”
The Gulf Cooperation Council comprises Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and Qatar and was formed in 1981, just two years after Iran’s Islamic Revolution. It has since served as a counterbalance to Tehran’s ambitions in the Middle East.
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Starring: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeon, Gemma Chan
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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.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
