MUSCAT // The UAE and its GCC counterparts last night called for international pressure on Israel to stop its attacks on Gaza, as the leaders of the six GCC nations prepared for their summit in Oman today.
"We have discussed the measures that can be taken at the Arab and international levels," Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the Foreign Minister, said after a five-hour meeting with his GCC counterparts. "We hope that there will be sensible voices capable of pressuring Israel to stop this brutal aggression."
Oman's foreign minister, Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, said at a press conference: "Everyone feels the Palestinian pain in the West Bank and Gaza. These are critical moments and every one should know that the Arab leaders will exert all their efforts to support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people."
Mr Abdullah said the GCC foreign ministers had adopted views that would contribute to the meeting of Arab foreign ministers on Wednesday in Cairo.
Prince Saud al Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, said that Gaza would figure "very high" in today's summit agenda.
The leaders are expected to discuss such issues as a common GCC currency, the international financial crisis, low oil prices and Iran.
The GCC's secretary general Abdulrahman al Attiyah said a final plan for a Gulf monetary union, under which a unified Gulf monetary council and a single currency would be created, would be submitted to the GCC national leaders during today's meeting.
Mohamed al Mazrooei, an assistant to the GCC secretary general for economic affairs, said the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain had submitted proposals to host the council.
Mustafa Alani, the programme director for the Gulf Research Council in Dubai, said the lack of a clear approach towards Iran by the incoming US administration was an issue that would concern the GCC leaders the most.
"Iran is going to be the elephant in the room," Dr Alani said. "The concern is how America is going to deal with the Iranian policy of interference and its nuclear programme.
"The GCC states are worried that any concessions by the US to Iran will be on their own expense.
"Any warming of US-Iranian relations affects the region's interests." The leaders will discuss the global financial crisis and low oil prices, "but I think they won't agree on one policy in this regard".
Another analyst, Suleiman Nimr, a columnist in Saudi Arabia, said that he did not expect the GCC leaders to announce any position on Gaza, in favour of waiting for the Arab League summit called by Qatar and Syria.
"The GCC countries prefer a unified Arab position," he said.
The Omani royal court said in a statement that the heads of the six GCC nations would discuss measures that "would lead to further co-operation among GCC states". According to Oman's state news agency, the summit would also discuss the tensions between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the attacks in Mumbai.
Meanwhile, GCC officials denounced the continuing Israeli attacks. Fahd bin Mahmoud al Saeed, Oman's deputy prime minister, said the sultanate "condemns the Israeli aggression on the Palestinian people and excessive use of force".
"We assert that this method is rejected and will not solve any issue," he said, according to the Oman state news agency. Violence, he said, "adds to the tension and instability in the region and just and comprehensive peace will not be achieved but through the negotiation table".
The GCC, formed during a summit in Abu Dhabi in 1981, promotes co-operation between members through collective security. In 1984, the GCC created a collective defence force, the Saudi-based Peninsula Shield.
But the group's most successful projects were economic, including the establishment of a customs union in 2003 and a common market in 2007. In 2001, the GCC states announced plans to form a monetary union by 2010.
mhabboush@thenational.ae
* With additional reporting by Travis Pantin
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
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%20PROFILE
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Emiratisation at work
Emiratisation was introduced in the UAE more than 10 years ago
It aims to boost the number of citizens in the workforce particularly in the private sector.
Growing the number of Emiratis in the workplace will help the UAE reduce dependence on overseas workers
The Cabinet in December last year, approved a national fund for Emirati jobseekers and guaranteed citizens working in the private sector a comparable pension
President Sheikh Khalifa has described Emiratisation as “a true measure for success”.
During the UAE’s 48th National Day, Sheikh Khalifa named education, entrepreneurship, Emiratisation and space travel among cornerstones of national development
More than 80 per cent of Emiratis work in the federal or local government as per 2017 statistics
The Emiratisation programme includes the creation of 20,000 new jobs for UAE citizens
UAE citizens will be given priority in managerial positions in the government sphere
The purpose is to raise the contribution of UAE nationals in the job market and create a diverse workforce of citizens
'Falling%20for%20Christmas'
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The bio
Job: Coder, website designer and chief executive, Trinet solutions
School: Year 8 pupil at Elite English School in Abu Hail, Deira
Role Models: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk
Dream City: San Francisco
Hometown: Dubai
City of birth: Thiruvilla, Kerala
Basquiat in Abu Dhabi
One of Basquiat’s paintings, the vibrant Cabra (1981–82), now hangs in Louvre Abu Dhabi temporarily, on loan from the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
The latter museum is not open physically, but has assembled a collection and puts together a series of events called Talking Art, such as this discussion, moderated by writer Chaedria LaBouvier.
It's something of a Basquiat season in Abu Dhabi at the moment. Last week, The Radiant Child, a documentary on Basquiat was shown at Manarat Al Saadiyat, and tonight (April 18) the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is throwing the re-creation of a party tonight, of the legendary Canal Zone party thrown in 1979, which epitomised the collaborative scene of the time. It was at Canal Zone that Basquiat met prominent members of the art world and moved from unknown graffiti artist into someone in the spotlight.
“We’ve invited local resident arists, we’ll have spray cans at the ready,” says curator Maisa Al Qassemi of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi's Canal Zone Remix is at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Thursday April 18, from 8pm. Free entry to all. Basquiat's Cabra is on view at Louvre Abu Dhabi until October
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