The UN's humanitarian chief said on Friday that the world body was doing “everything possible” to ensure a full extension of the Black Sea grain initiative before it expires on Saturday.
The world body continues to “engage closely with all parties” but “impediments remain”, Martin Griffiths said via videoconference.
Russia has offered to extend the agreement for a further 60 days — exactly half of the term secured in the previous extension in November.
Both Ukraine and Russia are major exporters of grain and fertiliser, and the deal has allowed shipments to continue on the Black Sea as the world grapples with a growing food crisis.
Globally, about 347 million people in 69 countries need humanitarian aid, said Mr Griffiths, and the UN and Turkey-brokered deal between Russia and Ukraine is “vital for global food security”.
On Tuesday, spokesman for Secretary General Antonio Guterres Stephane Dujarric acknowledged that while meaningful progress has been made in eliminating barriers to Black Sea food and fertiliser exports, “some obstacles remain, notably with regard to payment systems”.
Moscow has claimed that Russian agricultural exports have been blocked despite the deal, while grain from Ukraine has been allowed to pass through unimpeded. The Kremlin said only Kyiv is profiting from the deal, which it is using to help pay for western weapons.
“We, like many others have many questions,” Russia's UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said. “The main question is as follows: Why did it suddenly transform from a humanitarian initiative to a commercial one?”
He warned that if the EU, US and UK were “genuinely interested” in continuing the export of food from Ukraine through the maritime humanitarian corridor, “they have two months to exempt from their sanctions the entire chain of operations which accompany the Russian agricultural sector chain of operations”.
French UN ambassador Nicolas de Riviere accused Russia of seeking to “instrumentalise the vulnerabilities of third countries” and said there “must be no blackmail used” when it comes to the extension of the initiative.
“Exports by sea of Ukrainian grain must continue unimpeded in order to tackle food insecurity throughout the world here.” said Mr de Riviere.
Mr Griffiths also noted that close to “25 million metric tonnes of foodstuffs have been safely exported from Ukraine since August” thanks to the Black Sea grain initiative.
The World Food Program has been able to transport more than half a million metric tonnes of wheat to support humanitarian operations in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Yemen, said Mr Griffiths.
Two agreements were signed on the issue in July 2022: The first, signed by the UN and Russia, allows for unimpeded food and fertiliser exports to global markets. The second, signed by Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and witnessed by the UN, allows the export of grain and fertiliser from three Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea.
The UAE's ambassador to the UN Lana Nusseibeh called for the full implementation of the agreement on Russian exports and said that her country was working on the delivery of a $100 million assistance package to Ukraine to “ease the suffering on the ground”.
“But as we've said before in this chamber,” said Ms Nusseibeh, “another year of this conflict will mean another year of lives lost of communities destroyed and of global division.
“Now firmly in its second year, the war is no longer a tragedy of a time and place, but risks becoming a protected immutable conflict with no end in sight.”
Fixtures:
Wed Aug 29 – Malaysia v Hong Kong, Nepal v Oman, UAE v Singapore
Thu Aug 30 - UAE v Nepal, Hong Kong v Singapore, Malaysia v Oman
Sat Sep 1 - UAE v Hong Kong, Oman v Singapore, Malaysia v Nepal
Sun Sep 2 – Hong Kong v Oman, Malaysia v UAE, Nepal v Singapore
Tue Sep 4 - Malaysia v Singapore, UAE v Oman, Nepal v Hong Kong
Thu Sep 6 – Final
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
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.”
Superpower%20
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Coal Black Mornings
Brett Anderson
Little Brown Book Group
Company%20profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Mamo Year it started: 2019 Founders: Imad Gharazeddine, Asim Janjua Based: Dubai, UAE Number of employees: 28 Sector: Financial services Investment: $9.5m Funding stage: Pre-Series A Investors: Global Ventures, GFC, 4DX Ventures, AlRajhi Partners, Olive Tree Capital, and prominent Silicon Valley investors. More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
Sanju
Produced: Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Anushka Sharma, Manish’s Koirala, Dia Mirza, Sonam Kapoor, Jim Sarbh, Boman Irani
Rating: 3.5 stars
TEAMS
EUROPE:
Justin Rose, Francesco Molinari, Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Alex Noren, Thorbjorn Olesen, Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson
USA:
Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Webb Simpson, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau ( 1 TBC)
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
TO A LAND UNKNOWN
Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa
Rating: 4.5/5
