UAE announces ministerial changes including finance, environment | Reuters
United Arab Emirates Prime Minister and Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced ministerial changes on Saturday, including new finance and environment ministers.
Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum -- Sheikh Mohammed's son and the current deputy ruler of Dubai -- has been appointed deputy prime minister and finance minister.
Mohammed bin Hadi Al Husseini replaces long-serving Obaid Humaid Al Tayer as the Emirates' minister of state for finance, while Maryam Al Muhairi becomes the minister of climate change and environment.
Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei remains energy minister, but also takes on the role of infrastucture minister reflecting the merger of both ministries.
Saturday, 25 September 2021
What’s It Like to Visit #Dubai Now? Covid Comfort as Expo Arrives - Bloomberg
What’s It Like to Visit Dubai Now? Covid Comfort as Expo Arrives - Bloomberg
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High angle views of urban skyline and skyscrapers at sunset in Dubai UAE. Photographer: Lu ShaoJi/Moment RF The buzz around lunch time in Dubai’s financial center paints a clear picture of how the city’s dealing with the coronavirus pandemic: Business people are back in full swing, many restaurants have to be booked in advance, and luxury sports cars swarm the entrances of the area’s five-star hotels. It’s a far cry from last year’s empty parking lots and deserted office spaces. If there is such a thing as pre-pandemic normalcy in 2021, Dubai is keen to display it. International tourism resumed more than a year ago, and the city has relatively lenient rules to combat the spread of Covid-19. That’s thanks to the fact that the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a part, is one of the world’s most vaccinated nations. According to Bloomberg’s Vaccine Tracker, around 75% of the adult population is fully vaccinated. Now, it is opening up to millions of visitors for the World Expo, which will take place in the outskirts of the city from Oct. 1 through March 31. The exhibition was delayed for a year due to the pandemic; Dubai anticipates it to attract 25 million visits, both virtually and in person. The number is less eye-popping considering the scale of the Expo. The site is as large as 600 hundred football stadiums, filled with architectural spectacles from around 190 countries. The UAE’s is designed by Santiago Calatrava and will be shaped like a falcon in flight; the Canadian pavilion is a towering ring made of wood lattice with a “360 degree theater” at its center; and the Netherlands has built a cone-shaped vertical farm. |
#AbuDhabi’s Wealth Funds Weigh Turkey Investments Worth Billions - Bloomberg
Abu Dhabi’s Wealth Funds Weigh Turkey Investments Worth Billions - Bloomberg
Wealth funds in Abu Dhabi are on the prowl in Turkey, scouting for targets for billions of dollars in investments, according to people familiar with the matter.
Talks between the funds from the oil-rich capital of the United Arab Emirates and companies in Turkey have been ongoing for months, the people said. The interest preceded a breakthrough phone conversation in August between Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, amid increasing signs of a thawing of relations.
The investment discussions provide further evidence of a turnaround in ties between the two countries that have been at loggerheads for much of the past decade over everything from Islamist movements to the conflicts in Syria and Libya. Possible deals could revive an investment pipeline that sputtered amid longstanding tensions stemming from Turkey’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group banned in the UAE. Relations reached a nadir in 2016 when Turkish state media accused the UAE of supporting a coup attempt against Erdogan.
Among funds eyeing Turkish investments in recent weeks are Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, or ADIA, the emirate’s biggest wealth fund that’s amassed assets estimated at $686 billion, and ADQ, according to three people. ADQ alone is considering spending as much as $1 billion on health-care and fintech targets, one of the people said. With an estimated $110 billion in assets, ADQ is the emirate’s third-largest sovereign wealth fund after ADIA and Mubadala Investment Co.
ADQ could not immediately be reached for comment, while ADIA and the Turkish government’s investment office declined to comment.
Wealth funds in Abu Dhabi are on the prowl in Turkey, scouting for targets for billions of dollars in investments, according to people familiar with the matter.
Talks between the funds from the oil-rich capital of the United Arab Emirates and companies in Turkey have been ongoing for months, the people said. The interest preceded a breakthrough phone conversation in August between Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, amid increasing signs of a thawing of relations.
The investment discussions provide further evidence of a turnaround in ties between the two countries that have been at loggerheads for much of the past decade over everything from Islamist movements to the conflicts in Syria and Libya. Possible deals could revive an investment pipeline that sputtered amid longstanding tensions stemming from Turkey’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group banned in the UAE. Relations reached a nadir in 2016 when Turkish state media accused the UAE of supporting a coup attempt against Erdogan.
Among funds eyeing Turkish investments in recent weeks are Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, or ADIA, the emirate’s biggest wealth fund that’s amassed assets estimated at $686 billion, and ADQ, according to three people. ADQ alone is considering spending as much as $1 billion on health-care and fintech targets, one of the people said. With an estimated $110 billion in assets, ADQ is the emirate’s third-largest sovereign wealth fund after ADIA and Mubadala Investment Co.
ADQ could not immediately be reached for comment, while ADIA and the Turkish government’s investment office declined to comment.