JERUSALEM // The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has promised to work with the incoming Israeli government, easing tensions ahead of a meeting with the country's hardline prime minister-designate, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mrs Clinton, opening her first visit to the region as the top US diplomat, arrived during a transition period in Israel. Mr Netanyahu is putting together a new coalition government and is expected to be sworn in as prime minister within weeks.
His criticism of US-led Middle East peace talks during the recent election campaign has raised fears that his government could clash with the Obama administration. Mrs Clinton sought to play down such concerns, saying the US is ready to work with any Israeli government.
"We will work with the government of Israel that represents the democratic will of the people of Israel," Mrs Clinton said after meeting Israel's ceremonial president, Shimon Peres.
Mrs Clinton stressed the US's "unrelenting" commitment to Israel's security and said rocket fire at Israel from militants in Gaza must stop.
"There is no doubt that any nation, including Israel, cannot stand idly by while its territory and people are subjected to rocket attacks," she said.
Ahead of the meeting with Mrs Clinton, Mr Netanyahu showed signs of backing off his previous pledges to abandon the current round of peace talks, launched in Nov 2007 at a US-hosted summit.
Mr Netanyahu planned to tell the secretary of state that his government will continue peace talks with the Palestinians, a member of Mr Netanyahu's Likud Party said.
"I think that Hillary Clinton, when she comes today, will find Benjamin Netanyahu prepared to continue to hold negotiations, not only on economic projects but also political negotiations, a political process," said the Likud politician Silvan Shalom, a former foreign minister.
That message would mark a change in the hardline Likud leader's long-stated position that peace talks are a waste of time because of the weakness of the Palestinian leadership.
He has suggested in the past he would instead invest in the Palestinian economy while continuing Israel's military occupation of the West Bank indefinitely.
But Mr Netanyahu appears to have altered his stance, at least outwardly, since Israel's national election last month, after which he was chosen to lead the country's next government.
Freezing peace talks would set Israel up for a clash with the international community and the US, its most important ally.
But Mr Shalom, who spoke to Army Radio, would not say that Netanyahu supports the creation of a Palestinian state in what is now Israeli-controlled territory, the key goal of US-backed peace negotiations. Mr Netanyahu also openly opposes any division of the holy city of Jerusalem, a central Palestinian demand.
Mrs Clinton arrived in Jerusalem on Monday evening from the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh, where she pledged US$900 million (Dh3.3bn) in aid at an international donors conference for rebuilding the Gaza Strip after Israel's recent offensive.
On Tuesday she was scheduled to meet Israeli leaders in Jerusalem, including members of Israel's outgoing government, including the prime minister Ehud Olmert and foreign minister Tzipi Livni.
On Wednesday, she is to visit the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank. Speaking at the Sharm el Sheikh conference, Mrs Clinton said the Obama administration was committed to pushing intensively to find a way for Israelis and Palestinians to exist peacefully in separate states, and called for urgent action to forge a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace.
Mr Netanyahu has several weeks to form a new governing coalition. His attempts to bring Ms Livni, his centrist rival, into a broad coalition government have failed so far, largely because of Mr Netanyahu's refusal to embrace Ms Livni's call for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
At present, it appears his most likely government is a narrow alliance of hardline and Orthodox parties opposed to significant concessions for peace.
*AP
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How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
Result
UAE (S. Tagliabue 90 1') 1-2 Uzbekistan (Shokhruz Norkhonov 48', 86')
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4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
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When the W Dubai – The Palm hotel opens at the end of this year, one of the highlights will be Massimo Bottura’s new restaurant, Torno Subito, which promises “to take guests on a journey back to 1960s Italy”. It is the three Michelinstarred chef’s first venture in Dubai and should be every bit as ambitious as you would expect from the man whose restaurant in Italy, Osteria Francescana, was crowned number one in this year’s list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
Akira Back Dubai
Another exciting opening at the W Dubai – The Palm hotel is South Korean chef Akira Back’s new restaurant, which will continue to showcase some of the finest Asian food in the world. Back, whose Seoul restaurant, Dosa, won a Michelin star last year, describes his menu as, “an innovative Japanese cuisine prepared with a Korean accent”.
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
The highly experimental chef, whose dishes are as much about spectacle as taste, opens his first restaurant in Dubai next year. Housed at The Royal Atlantis Resort & Residences, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal will feature contemporary twists on recipes that date back to the 1300s, including goats’ milk cheesecake. Always remember with a Blumenthal dish: nothing is quite as it seems.
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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.”