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☆ Flush with cash, the Middle East is ramping up investment in soccer as a soft power push
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Michael Considine | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Manchester City's victory in the UEFA Champions League final over Inter Milan was historic for a number of reasons. Manchester City's win, heavily backed by UAE money, comes as Saudi Arabia and Qatar look to ramp up their investment in the sport. The UAE's Sheikh Mansour purchased the club in 2008 and has since proceeded to spend more on transfers than any other club in world soccer. The scale of the investment has attracted criticism, with human rights group Amnesty International saying the UAE's spending amounts to one of soccer's "most brazen attempts to 'sportswash' a country's deeply tarnished image." "But in terms of soft power, image reputation, nation branding, I think it's significant as well."

Persons: Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Mohammed bin Zayed, Sheikh Mansour, it's, Simon Chadwick, CNBC's Organizations: Manchester, UEFA Champions League, Inter Milan, English Premier League, soccer, United Arab Emirates, Manchester City's, Manchester United, Amnesty, CNBC, Manchester City, Skema Business School Locations: Abu Dhabi, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar

☆ UAE's ruler breaks with tradition and appoints his son as crown prince
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailUAE's ruler breaks with tradition and appoints his son as crown princeUAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan passed over his brothers, promoting them to senior roles and effectively pushed them out of the succession. CNBC's Hadley Gamble reports.

☆ UAE leader breaks with tradition, appoints son as crown prince
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Sheikh Khaled bin Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE leader's eldest son, is now the oil-rich Middle Eastern country's crown prince, effectively next in line for its leadership. Sheikh Tahnoon was already named chair of the $790 billion Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the emirate's main sovereign wealth fund, earlier in March. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. He described the decision as "formalizing the leverage Abu Dhabi has over Dubai, and how little Dubai will be allowed to say in foreign policy." Prime Minister and Vice-President of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum attends the Global Women's Forum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, February 16, 2020.

Sheikh Mohammed, who became president and Abu Dhabi ruler last year after running the U.S.-allied OPEC oil producer for years, named his brother Sheikh Mansour as UAE vice president, alongside Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. This appeared to further centralise power in Abu Dhabi, which is the political capital by virtue of its immense oil wealth, of the UAE federation of seven emirates. Abu Dhabi has held the presidency since the founding of the UAE federation by Sheikh Mohammed's father in 1971. Sheikh Mohammed, known as MbZ, had been grooming his son in positions of authority in security - including intelligence - economy and governance, analysts say. Earlier this month, Sheikh Tahnoun was named chair of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, among the world's largest sovereign wealth funds.

☆ Abu Dhabi's Presight AI soars on market debut
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

DUBAI, March 27 (Reuters) - Shares in Abu Dhabi big data analytics company Presight AI climbed as much as 176% on their stock market debut after raising 1.82 billion dirhams ($495.6 million) in an initial public offering (IPO) for almost a third of the business. Presight's shares rose as high as 3.70 dirhams on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange before retreating a little to 3.40 dirhams. The company is majority owned by G42, controlled by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan. Sheikh Tahnoon is the UAE's national security adviser and has acted as a foreign policy troubleshooter for his brother, President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan. He was also recently named chair of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the emirate's largest sovereign wealth fund, and was already chair of smaller wealth fund ADQ.

☆ Syria's Assad arrives in United Arab Emirates in official visit
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Syria's President Bashar al-Assad meets with President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates March 19, 2023. Hamad Al Kaabi/UAE Presidential Court/Handout via REUTERSDUBAI, March 19 (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al Assad arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sunday for an official visit, accompanied by his wife Asma al Assad, at a time when more Arab states have signalled openness to easing the isolation of Damascus. "We held constructive talks aimed at developing relations between our two countries," Sheikh Mohammed later said in a Twitter post. The Syrian presidency said Asma al Assad, on her first known official visit abroad with Assad since 2011, would meet with Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak who is the Emirati president's mother and regarded in the UAE as the "Mother of the Nation". Saudi Arabia, Qatar and, to a lesser extent the UAE, once backed rebels against Assad.

☆ Middle East pivot to Asia is strategic this time
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Una Galani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Xi Jinping has brokered a deal the United States would have found hard to secure, despite its traditional military influence in the Middle East. The Middle East has trained its financial sights on Asia before. At current rates of growth, emerging Asia will become the top trade partner for the Gulf countries by 2028, per Asia House, surpassing advanced economies. As U.S.-China relations continue to sour, the Asian financial centre is looking to the Middle East to find new foreign companies to trade in the territory. Delegations from the two Middle East countries held talks in Beijing between March 6 and 10, the statement added.

☆ UAE withdraws bid for 2026 World Bank-IMF meetings in favour of Qatar
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A general view of the Burj Khalifa and the downtown skyline in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, June 12, 2021. The decision came during a phone call between UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Qatar's emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, statements from state news agency WAM and the Amiri Diwan said. In Sunday's phone call, Sheikh Mohammed pledged the UAE's support for Qatar's bid to host the meetings and "wished the Emir and the people of Qatar every success in hosting this global gathering," WAM's statement said. But relations between Abu Dhabi and Doha have warmed in recent months with Sheikh Mohammed visiting Qatar during the soccer World Cup last December. Abu Dhabi, like Manama, has not appointed an envoy to Doha, but restored travel and trade links with Qatar.

☆ Abu Dhabi shakes up wealth funds with top royals chairing
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Yousef Saba | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DUBAI, March 9 (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi announced a reshuffle at the top of its two biggest sovereign wealth funds on Thursday, appointing senior members of the royal family as chairmen. Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, one of the most powerful members of Abu Dhabi's royal family, was named chair of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), among the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, the government's media office said. ADIA is estimated by Global SWF to manage $993 billion in assets, while the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute puts the figure at $790 billion. The wealth fund's last chairman was the previous UAE president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who died last year. MORE NEWCOMERSThe UAE president is appointing his brothers as chairmen at state sovereign wealth funds rather than chairing them himself.

☆ CORRECTED Italy's Meloni says on track to rebuild 'excellent' relations with UAE
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"I think discussions this morning went very, very well and we're going back to a strategic partnership. Italy historically had very strong relations with UAE which in recent years experienced serious difficulties," Meloni told reporters in Abu Dhabi. Italy in 2021 halted the sale of thousands of missiles to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, citing Rome's commitment to restoring peace in Yemen. "On all these matters Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed has expressed his willingness to help," Meloni said. "I think there is a strong will on both sides to rebuild not just good but excellent relations, a friendship, which I think is very important for our national interest."

☆ Saudi Arabia and U.A.E. Clash Over Oil, Yemen as Rift Grows
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Summer Said | Stephen Kalin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Middle East leaders at a regional event in January. DUBAI—When Abu Dhabi hosted a summit of Middle East leaders at a seaside palace in January, there was a glaring absence: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman . Prince Mohammed and U.A.E. President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan steered clear of each other’s events intentionally, Gulf officials said, even as the rulers of Jordan, Egypt, Qatar and others attended. The snubs exposed a growing rift between neighboring U.S. security partners that for years marched in lockstep on Middle East foreign policy.

Shunned by the West, Assad has been basking in an outpouring of support from Arab states that have normalised ties with him in recent years, notably the United Arab Emirates (UAE). On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia sent its first reported plane of aid to Assad-controlled Aleppo, a notable gesture from a Gulf state still at odds with Syria's president. 'BREAK THE SIEGE'The UAE has pledged $50 million in aid to Syria, without saying in which part of Syria it will be spent. Once a backer of Assad's foes, the UAE has been pressing other Arab states to re-engage with Damascus, according to two Gulf sources, despite opposition from its strategic ally the United States. Tunisia, which cut off ties with Syria a decade ago, has said it will strengthen relations with Damascus since the quake.

☆ Pakistan PM Sharif offers talks with arch-rival India
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Asif Shahzad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ISLAMABAD, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has offered his Indian counterpart talks over all outstanding issues, including disputed Kashmir, which he believes could be facilitated by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He can play a very important role to bring the two countries on the talking table," Sharif said. The two arch-rival nuclear powers have fought three wars since independence from British rule in 1947. Tensions rose high when India unilaterally revoked the autonomous status of its part of Kashmir later in 2019, which Sharif said resulted in "flagrant" human rights violations. Sharif said the wars between the two countries brought nothing except misery, poverty and unemployment.

☆ UAE pledges to invest $30 billion in South Korea, president's office says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/5] Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, receives Yoon Suk Yeol, President of South Korea and Kim Keon-hee, First Lady of South Korea, upon their arrival for a state visit reception, at Qasr Al Watan, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, January 15, 2023. Mohamed Al Hammadi/UAE Presidential Court/Handout via REUTERSSEOUL, Jan 15 (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has decided to invest $30 billion in South Korea's industries, South Korea's presidential office said on Sunday, as the two countries seek to expand economic cooperation. The investment decision was announced as South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol met his UAE counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, in Abu Dhabi during a four-day state visit, Yoon's office said. "We have decided a $30 billion investment based on the trust on South Korea which keeps promises under any circumstances," Yoon's office quoted the UAE president as saying. Seoul's finance ministry said the $30 billion investment would be led by sovereign wealth funds, including Mubadala Investment Company.

Summary Abraham Accords meant to lead to wider normalisationBut four new Arab partners of Israel now in tough spotHow to deal with rightists without ditching Palestinians? It is expected to be the widest-ranging deal of its kind between Israel and an Arab state. "This is the proof that one can make peace without concessions, without capitulation - but rather, peace, peace, between people who have affection for one another," he said in comments published by the conservative Israel Hayom newspaper. “Arab countries who formed normalisation ties with the state of occupation are required more than ever to revise these agreements,” he told Reuters by phone. Netanyahu has pledged to build on the achievement during his previous term of the Abraham Accords that opened the way for a possible normalisation of relations with other Arab countries.

☆ UAE will look to a world beyond OPEC
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( George Hay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The UAE has chafed at OPEC restrictions before, in 2020 and 2021. OPEC’s alliance with Russia, as part of the wider OPEC+ group, similarly risks lumping its members in with a wider anti-Western bloc. But ADNOC’s accelerated oil production timetable is arguably more in keeping with a different outlook, preferred by the International Energy Agency, whereby oil demand peaks much sooner. If MbZ were to use the COP28 conference to make that more explicit, it could push the UAE further away from OPEC. And quitting OPEC to pump more oil would be awkward while hosting a climate conference.

☆ US slaps down Saudi claim it helped secure Brittney Griner's release, undermining Riyadh's efforts to be a global power player
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The US pushed back after Saudi Arabia and the UAE said they helped free Brittney Griner. The White House insisted that the only two parties to the prisoner swap were it and Russia. Saudi Arabia has repeatedly upset the US with attempts to take a bigger, independent global role. The Saudi Arabia and the UAE in a joint statement Thursday said that UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had helped mediate the exchange. When asked about it at a White House press briefing, press secretary Karine Jean Pierre pushed back.

Griner arrived in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi by private plane from Moscow as Bout was flown in on a private plane from Washington. Bout, nicknamed the "merchant of death," embraced a Russian official who greeted him and smiled broadly as he was led away. A joint UAE-Saudi statement said the UAE president and Saudi crown prince led mediation efforts that secured Griner's release. Griner was exchanged for Bout, a onetime Russian weapons dealer who had been convicted in the United States and imprisoned for 10 years. During the prisoner swap, Griner was met on the tarmac in UAE by chief U.S. hostage negotiator Roger Carstens.

☆ U.A.E. President Visits Qatar in Sign of Regional Thaw
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Rory Jones | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

DUBAI—United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan on Monday visited Qatar for the first time since launching a three-year boycott of its Gulf neighbor, a sign of thawing regional tensions as the FIFA World Cup is held there. spearheaded a yearslong effort economically and physically to isolate Qatar beginning in 2017 and ending last year. Sheikh Mohammed’s visit illustrates how the U.A.E. has pioneered a series of moves to mend ties across the region and chart a neutral foreign policy after mixed success intervening in regional conflicts.

☆ UAE president visits Qatar in sign of warming ties
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DOHA, Dec 5 (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) president arrived in Qatar on Monday on the first such visit since Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies ended a boycott of Doha nearly two years ago. Qatar is currently hosting soccer's World Cup,The visit "is another step towards strengthening Gulf solidarity and joint action," Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, said on Twitter. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt early last year ended a 3-1/2 year embargo of Qatar, but ties between Doha and Abu Dhabi have not warmed at the same pace as those with Riyadh and Cairo, which re-established diplomatic ties with Doha. UAE National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan visited Doha twice as part of Abu Dhabi's push to manage regional differences. Abu Dhabi, like Manama, has not appointed an envoy to Doha, but restored travel and trade links between the UAE and Qatar.

☆ Taliban acting defence minister holds talks with UAE president
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan meets with Afghanistan's Acting Defence Minister Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob at Al-Shati Palace in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates December 4, 2022. Ryan Carter/UAE Presidential Court/Handout via REUTERSKABUL, Dec 5 (Reuters) - The acting defence minister of the Afghan Taliban has met the president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, for talks in Abu Dhabi on strengthening relations, his ministry and UAE state media reported on Monday. The acting defence minister, Mullah Yaqoob, is the son of the late supreme leader of the Taliban, Mullah Omar, and the meeting with the UAE president is a rare encounter between a senior member of the group and a foreign head of state. The UAE news agency released photographs of the talks that showed another senior Taliban figure, Anas Haqqani, was present at the talks. The meeting with the UAE president comes after the Taliban, in September, signed a final contract for running Afghanistan's airports with the UAE company GAAC Holding, which had beat out rival bids from Qatar and Turkey.

This has led to two IHC subsidiaries rounding out the three biggest companies on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX). ITH was expected to turn over half a billion dirhams ($136 million) and have $1 billion in assets by the second quarter, Shueb said. Pure Health, under Alpha Dhabi, aims to raise more than $1 billion in a first-quarter IPO delayed from this year. Its merger with state-owned Abu Dhabi Health Services (SEHA), which Shueb said has almost 24,000 employees, is taking longer than expected, delaying the IPO. IHC, which completed four IPOs this year and plans a similar number in 2023, has yet to appoint banks for the Pure Health IPO, Shueb said, adding it is considering a possible 2023 IPO of International Energy Holding.

However the talks aim to remove remaining obstacles in the initiative extended last week and ease global food shortages by unblocking Ukrainian and Russian exports, they added. Putin said on Wednesday that Russian officials would work to unblock Russian fertilisers stuck in European ports and to resume ammonia exports. The export of Russian ammonia would be via an existing pipeline to the Black Sea. Neither Russia nor Ukraine have released official figures on how many prisoners of war they have taken since Russia invaded in February. On Oct. 29, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskiy said that since March, Russia had freed a total of 1,031 prisoners.

☆ Key takeaways from the COP27 climate summit
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( Megan Rowling | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/4] Egyptian Foreign Minister and Egypt's COP27 President Sameh Shoukry attends an informal stocktaking session during the COP27 climate summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, November 18, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El GhanySHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 20 (Reuters) - This year's U.N. climate summit featured visits by world leaders, proposals by business leaders, and negotiations by nearly 200 nations about the future of global action on climate change. Natural gas chiefs were billing themselves as climate champions, despite gas companies having faced lawsuits in the United States over such claims. The leftist leader made the Egypt climate summit his first visit abroad since winning Brazil's presidential election last month against right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, who presided over mounting destruction of the rainforest and refused to hold the 2019 climate summit originally planned for Brazil. U.S., CHINA RELATIONSHIP REKINDLEDA critical precursor for the climate talks' success happened far away from the Red Sea locale.

☆ Key takeaways from the COP27 climate summit in Egypt
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

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