DUBAI // The Prime Minister has told the reshuffled Cabinet that it must serve Emiratis, work among them and focus on making their lives easier.
In his address to the Cabinet’s first meeting, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, also Ruler of Dubai, told ministers where their main responsibilities lay.
“The Emirati is at the core of our daily work and the end goal of improving the government sector is to serve Emiratis,” Sheikh Mohammed said.
He called for innovative strategies to tackle the national priorities of youth, knowledge and community development.
“I would like you all to present a 100-day work plan, especially for the new ministries and those that have had many changes,” Sheikh Mohammed said at the Presidential Palace.
“Our goal is to expedite progress. Today, countries and governments are measured not by size but by speed. I want you to be in the field with the people, addressing challenges and hammering out solutions and making a real change in government work.
“We have a number of national priorities to address, such as youth, knowledge development, community development, climate change, future trends and the post-oil phase. We will develop new innovative mechanism to address them.
“Our real success will be measured by people’s satisfaction and by making their lives easier, because the post is a responsibility in front of Allah and the people.”
On February 8, he announced the names of eight new ministers – five of them women – including ministers of state for youth, tolerance and happiness.
The new-look Cabinet was the largest revamp in the history of the federal Government.
In a letter published on Saturday, Sheikh Mohammed explained the reasons for the overhaul.
He also stressed the need to learn from the unrest in the Middle East, the results of failure to respond to the aspirations of young people and the importance of providing them with opportunities to achieve their ambitions.
The Prime Minister yesterday welcomed the new ministers and praised the work of former Cabinet members.
He said the next decade would need a doubling of efforts to achieve progress in services and development.
Sheikh Mohammed said that under the leadership of the President, Sheikh Khalifa, the country had made progress in all fields and was now starting a new phase of government work.
The Cabinet on Sunday endorsed decrees to restructure the Ministerial Council for Services and rename it the Ministerial Development Council, which will be chaired by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs.
New foundations were also set up, as were councils reporting to the Cabinet.
Later on Sunday on Twitter, Sheikh Mohammed described chairing a “post-reform Cabinet meeting. A government seeing the future with positive energy and youth’s optimism”.
The Government was “going through a phase of change”, he tweeted.
The Cabinet also endorsed the establishment of an Education and Human Resources Council, to be chaired by Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
The council will focus on aligning education and human resources policy to ensure education meets market demands and future trends.
The Emirates Scientists Council will be chaired by Sara Al Amiri, deputy project manager and science lead at the UAE Mars Mission. The council will prepare a generation of national scientists, Sheikh Mohammed said.
The Cabinet also endorsed the foundation of the Emirates Youth Council, to be chaired by Shamma Al Mazrui, Minister of State for Youth, to develop youth-related strategies and understand the views of younger citizens.
The youth council’s average age is 23 years, with members including electronic engineers, nuclear regulatory inspectors, safety analysts, authors and legal researchers. Several council members are also studying for postgraduate degrees.
The Emirates Health Services Corporation was formed to run and operate federal hospitals and health centres, and the Emirates School Education Corporation was set up to operate federal schools and kindergartens. It will supervise and regulate federal schools across the UAE and set up a unified student database.
rtalwar@thenational.ae
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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Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
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Company/date started: 2015
Founder/CEO: Rami Salman, Rishav Jalan, Ayush Chordia
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Technology, Sales, Voice, Artificial Intelligence
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Stage: 1 ($800,000)
Investors: Eight first-round investors including, Beco Capital, 500 Startups, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Hala Fadel, Odin Financial Services, Dubai Angel Investors, Womena, Arzan VC
