Leaders and senior officials of nine countries will meet in Baghdad on Saturday for a summit that Iraqis hope will secure support for their war-torn country and mitigate tensions in the region.
The invited Arab countries are the UAE, Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Officials from Iran, Turkey and France will also be present.
Representatives of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, the European Union, members of the G20 group, the Gulf Co-operation Council and the Arab League will attend as observers.
Baghdad Conference for Co-operation and Partnership will help in “easing tensions and crises in the region as well as supporting the constructive path of positive dialogue and negotiations”, Iraqi President Barham Salih said.
Mr Salih on Thursday told a delegation of Arab journalists that one of the reasons for the woes in the region was the absence of a stable and capable Iraq.
“The problems in the region can’t be solved without supporting Iraq, its sovereignty, independence and development,” he said. “The future of Iraq is important for the future of the countries in the region."
Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait isolated Iraq for more than a decade as countries severed ties with his regime.
Even after the toppling of Saddam’s Sunni-led regime in 2003 by a US-led invasion, many Arab states were hesitant to restore relations, considering successive Shiite-led governments too close to Iran.
However, since late 2007, many Arab countries began to normalise relations with Iraq at the urging of Washington in an attempt to counter growing Iranian influence.
Saturday’s summit is the latest effort by Baghdad to boost relations with Arab countries.
Baghdad has been holding meetings with Jordan and Egypt to build co-operation, mainly in the energy sector, and has hosted several meetings between rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran in a bid to boost its position as a regional mediator and reduce tensions in Iraq and beyond.
Although Baghdad had hoped for leaders of all invited states to attend, as of Friday only Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, Jordan's King Abdullah II and French President Emmanuel Macron had confirmed their participation.
Mr Macron arrived in Baghdad shortly after midnight and was received by Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi.
“Today’s conference is a historic one,” Mr Macron said in a joint press conference with Mr Al Kadhimi on Saturday.
“Stability in Iraq is not possible unless there is a willingness in the region to co-operate,” he said, and bringing together all parties is the “main condition for this stability”.
“The region and its people have suffered a lot of wounds from numerous conflicts and grave challenges," he said.
“I believe that the sense of responsibility we have and our ability to go forward are bringing us today around one table to build projects of co-operation.”
Kuwait will be represented by its Prime Minister, Sheikh Sabah Al Sabah and Iran by its Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Turkey have yet to confirm.
Excluding Syria from the meeting upon request from some countries, mainly France, different levels of representation and lack of clear agenda suggest differences among the participating countries in regard to regional issues.
Iraqi officials say the meeting is expected to discuss the war in Yemen, Lebanon’s economic collapse and the region’s water crisis without elaborating. No agreement has been reached on discussing the crisis in Syria.
They also hope the meeting could work towards a rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
“Today we say: we’ve had enough conflicts, we’ve had enough wasting our lives and money for others' conflicts,” Mr Salih said.
“And to the region and mainly to our neighbours we say: instead of making Iraq a battleground for conflicts, it can be a crossing, a bridge and a point of contact where all can meet,” he added.
Some Iraqis feel the government needs to focus on domestic problems rather than regional issues.
“Only with a stable domestic political scene can Iraq begin to address foreign policy issues,” security analyst Abdul-Ameer Jawad wrote in 1001 Iraqi Thoughts, a platform for analysis and commentary.
“The selection of Arab countries in attendance speaks to Al Kadhimi’s aspirations and his efforts to portray Iraq under his term as a stable regional player, having more in common with states like Egypt and the Gulf than Lebanon, Syria and Libya,” he said.
He describes the conference as a “political theatre” ahead of October 10 elections “meant to showcase Kadhimi’s foreign policy credentials as he attempts to secure a second term”.
The Outsider
Stephen King, Penguin
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Tips for SMEs to cope
- Adapt your business model. Make changes that are future-proof to the new normal
- Make sure you have an online presence
- Open communication with suppliers, especially if they are international. Look for local suppliers to avoid delivery delays
- Open communication with customers to see how they are coping and be flexible about extending terms, etc
Courtesy: Craig Moore, founder and CEO of Beehive, which provides term finance and working capital finance to SMEs. Only SMEs that have been trading for two years are eligible for funding from Beehive.
What is Diwali?
The Hindu festival is at once a celebration of the autumn harvest and the triumph of good over evil, as outlined in the Ramayana.
According to the Sanskrit epic, penned by the sage Valmiki, Diwali marks the time that the exiled king Rama – a mortal with superhuman powers – returned home to the city of Ayodhya with his wife Sita and brother Lakshman, after vanquishing the 10-headed demon Ravana and conquering his kingdom of Lanka. The people of Ayodhya are believed to have lit thousands of earthen lamps to illuminate the city and to guide the royal family home.
In its current iteration, Diwali is celebrated with a puja to welcome the goodness of prosperity Lakshmi (an incarnation of Sita) into the home, which is decorated with diyas (oil lamps) or fairy lights and rangoli designs with coloured powder. Fireworks light up the sky in some parts of the word, and sweetmeats are made (or bought) by most households. It is customary to get new clothes stitched, and visit friends and family to exchange gifts and greetings.
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The biog
Favourite Emirati dish: Fish machboos
Favourite spice: Cumin
Family: mother, three sisters, three brothers and a two-year-old daughter
Results:
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1. Alice Debany Clero (USA) on Amareusa S 38.83 seconds
2. Anikka Sande (NOR) For Cash 2 39.09
3. Georgia Tame (GBR) Cash Up 39.42
4. Nadia Taryam (UAE) Askaria 3 39.63
5. Miriam Schneider (GER) Fidelius G 47.74
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.”
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BEACH SOCCER WORLD CUP
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