Anas Sarwar is the latest senior member of the party to call for an immediate ban on weapon sales to Israel after Sadiq Khan…reports Asian Lite News
The leader of the Labour Party in Scotland has joined the mayor of London in calling for the UK to halt arms sales to Israel, The Guardian newspaper reported.
Anas Sarwar is the latest senior member of the party to call for an immediate ban on weapon sales to Israel after Sadiq Khan urged the same on Thursday.
Ministers in the Conservative government are under pressure to reveal legal advice they have received regarding the sales to Israel during its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, which could mean the UK is found to be breaking international law.
Foreign Secretary David Cameron said last month that the advice would be revealed in a matter of days, but the government in Westminster has since refused to confirm when it will be released.
Speaking to BBC Scotland on Friday, Sarwar said Israel had “clearly” breached international law during its campaign in Gaza and that the UK should immediately halt the sale of weapons.
Government sources have said the release of the legal advice is a complicated issue because it is based on an “evolving situation,” and could be impacted by events such as the death of seven aid workers in an Israeli strike on a World Central Kitchen convoy earlier this week.
“This advice has been batted around for a while but it’s a complex, moving thing,” a Whitehall source said. “As well as the legal implications, they also need to balance diplomatic considerations and what other allies might do.”
Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, who is also chair of the UK’s Foreign Affairs Committee, told the BBC on Friday that Israeli attacks on humanitarian workers were “happening on a daily basis and we are not seeing this outcry when it is about Palestinian volunteers.”
She also added her voice to calls for the UK to halt arms sales to Israel while it is breaching international humanitarian law.
“I believe we have no choice but to suspend arms sales and it is important that the public understands this is not a political decision as some people want to present it as,” she told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” program.
“Legal advice is advisory so the government can choose to reject it, but UK arms export licenses require a recipient to comply with international humanitarian law. That is why emergency hand brakes exist in terms of change of circumstances.”
Friday’s letter also calls on the US to withhold future arms transfers…reports Asian Lite News
More than three dozen congressional Democrats – including representative Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker and a key Joe Biden ally – signed a letter to the president and the secretary of state Antony Blinken, urging a halt to weapons transfers to Israel.
“In light of the recent strike against aid workers and the ever-worsening humanitarian crisis, we believe it is unjustifiable to approve these weapons transfers,” the letter said. It was signed by Pelosi and 36 other Democrats including Representatives Barbara Lee, Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Friday’s letter also calls on the US to withhold future arms transfers pending a US investigation into the airstrike on the World Central Kitchen humanitarian workers or if Israel “fails to sufficiently mitigate harm to innocent civilians in Gaza”. A spokesperson for Pelosi later said the congresswoman was encouraged at early steps Biden’s administration had taken to investigate the strike on the WCK staffers “and respects his judgment on how to proceed”.
Nonetheless, on Thursday, hours after Biden told Israel to take concrete steps to protect civilians and aid workers in Gaza or risk losing military support from the US, top senators belonging to the president’s Democratic party had also ramped up pressure on the White House to go further.
The progressive senator Bernie Sanders was among the strongest voices. “Israel should not be getting another nickel in military aid” until it markedly facilitates the flow of provisions into a region that the US suspects is already grappling with famine, he said.
“We are looking at one of the worst humanitarian disasters that we have seen in a very, very long time … because Israel is not allowing the humanitarian trucks into Gaza, and especially into the areas where people are in most desperate condition,” Sanders told CNN on Thursday.
Adding that it was not the US’s job to worry about how Gaza may tie into the political future of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Vermont senator added: “My view is no more military aid to Israel when children [there] are starving.”
Meanwhile, the Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland insisted that the president enforce a national security memorandum signed in February that aimed to condition the transfer of military weaponry to Israel on its adherence to humanitarian benchmarks.
“I was glad to see the president indicate that he’s going to monitor compliance and base US policy going forward on the government meeting these requirements,” Van Hollen told Politico Playbook. “That suggests no more ‘anything goes’ when it comes to policies towards the Netanyahu government.”
Topping the list of policies that Biden could leverage against Israel is the suspension of transferring “offensive weapons” to Israel if it fails at “reducing civilian harm” or “getting desperately needed assistance to people in need”, Van Hollen said. The senator alluded to that policy days after Israeli airstrikes killed seven employees of the international food charity World Central Kitchen (WCK). Following the attack, a cargo ship carrying 240 tons of food destined for Gaza returned to Cyprus.
The Massachusetts Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren said she would seek to impede the sale of F-15s to Israel after the killings of the WCK staffers, which included a US-Canadian citizen and three British nationals.
“We cannot approve the sale of arms to a country that is in violation of our own laws on this,” Warren told CNN. “And that includes access to humanitarian relief.
“This is a moral question – it is also a legal question. Congress has responsibility here, and I’m willing to take that responsibility.”
Netanyahu has said Israel killed the WCK staffers unintentionally, and two senior military officers have been fired as a result.
Sanders, Van Hollen and Warren are all part of a 51-49 majority that Democrats – and independents who caucus with them – hold in the Senate.
Biden and his administration have generally stood in steadfast support of Israel, which has struck Gaza on land and by air after the 7 October attack by Hamas killed 1,100 Israelis and also took hostages. But with the death toll in Gaza climbing above 30,000 and the humanitarian crisis worsening, the US – which provides Israel with at least $3.8bn in security assistance annually – recently abstained from a United Nations vote which resulted in a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Biden on Thursday for the first time called for an immediate ceasefire, too.
Guterres demanded an investigation into those killings, noting that investigation can only work with the cooperation of the Israeli authorities….reports Asian Lite News
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for a paradigm shift in Israel’s military strategy in Gaza and in aid delivery to save lives.
Following this week’s appalling killing of seven humanitarian workers from World Central Kitchen, the Israeli government has acknowledged mistakes and announced some disciplinary measures, Guterres said on Friday. “But the essential problem is not who made the mistakes, it is the military strategy and procedures in place that allow for those mistakes to multiply time and time again.”
Fixing those failures requires independent investigations and meaningful and measurable change on the ground, he said at a press encounter as the Gaza conflict is about to become six months old.
In its speed, scale and inhumane ferocity, the war in Gaza is the deadliest of conflicts — for civilians, for aid workers, for journalists, for health workers, and for UN staff. Some 196 humanitarian aid workers, including more than 175 UN staff members, have been killed, Guterres was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying.
An information war has added to the trauma, obscuring facts and shifting blame. Denying international journalists entry into Gaza is allowing disinformation and false narratives to flourish, he said.
Guterres demanded an investigation into those killings, noting that investigation can only work with the cooperation of the Israeli authorities.
“One hundred and ninety-six humanitarian workers have been killed, and we want to know why each one of them was killed,” he said.
In the aftermath of the killing of World Central Kitchen staff, the United Nations was informed by the Israeli government of its intention to allow a substantial increase in humanitarian aid distributed in Gaza, said Guterres. “I sincerely hope that these intentions are effectively and quickly materialized because the situation in Gaza is absolutely desperate.”
Dramatic humanitarian conditions require a quantum leap in the delivery of life-saving aid — a true paradigm shift, he said.
Guterres repeated his urgent appeals for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire, the unconditional release of all hostages, the protection of civilians, and the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid.
Last week, the Security Council called for just that in its Resolution 2728. In December, the council demanded, in another resolution, accelerating the delivery of life-saving aid under a UN mechanism. All those demands must be implemented. Failure would be unforgivable, he said.
“Six months on, we are at the brink of mass starvation, of regional conflagration, of a total loss of faith in global standards and norms. It’s time to step back from that brink, to silence the guns, to ease the horrible suffering, and to stop a potential famine before it is too late,” said Guterres.
Crown Prince Mohammed and King Abdullah spoke about the necessity of finding a political solution to the Palestinian crisis based on the two-state solution, which guarantees the establishment of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state…reports Asian Lite News
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Jordan’s King Abdullah II yesterday engaged in discussions regarding regional developments, particularly focusing on the Middle East and Gaza.
The crown prince expressed Saudi Arabia’s support for the measures taken by the Jordanian government to maintain Jordan’s security and stability, the Saudi Press Agency reported, and the king expressed his appreciation for Saudi Arabia’s supportive stance.
Prince Mohammed and the king spoke about the necessity of finding a political solution to the Palestinian crisis based on the two-state solution, which guarantees the establishment of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state along 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital, the Jordanian news agency Petra reported.
The crown prince and King Abdullah also discussed relations between the Kingdom and Jordan. The king expressed to Prince Mohammed “his pride in the level of Jordanian-Saudi relations, and his keenness to consolidate them in all fields,” Petra said.
Earlier, Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi urged the international community to act to end the crisis in Gaza Strip and stop the dangerous Israeli aggression, which has violated all international charters, treaties, and agreements.
Via an audiovisual call at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) with EU Special Representative for the Gulf Region Luigi di Maio and several other European officials and senior specialists in international relations about the situation in Gaza Strip and the future of Gulf-European ties in light of the current geopolitical challenges, Albudaiwi stressed that the dangerous situation in Gaza has led to growing instability in the region and the world, with grave repercussions, and that global cooperation is needed to stop this crisis.
He also said that it is crucial to provide urgent humanitarian and relief support to Palestinians in Gaza Strip.
Albudaiwi praised the progress made in all aspects of Gulf-European relations, and stressed that it is important to increase dialogue and cooperation to address common challenges and support stability in the region.
He further highlighted the numerous promising opportunities to establish a solid strategic partnership by bolstering Gulf-European relations, saying that continued discussions and dialogue help facilitate the exchange of views and promote mutual understanding, and contribute to achieving security and stability.
IDF presses offensive in Khan Yunis
Israel continued to press its offensive against Hamas in Khan Yunis. The forces struck militant infrastructure in the city’s Al Amal and ‘Abasan al Jadida neighbourhoods, killing militants with tank fire and seizing weapons.
Khan Yunis, Gaza’s second-largest city, is widely regarded as a personal stronghold of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
After numerous rocket launches were identified crossing from Gaza into Israel on Wednesday, the IDF struck the sources of the fire along with additional launchers and militant infrastructure.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden on Thursday told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that America’s support of Israel’s war in Gaza would be determined by the latter announcing and implementing a “series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers”.
The US President also called for an “immediate ceasefire” to stabilize and improve the humanitarian situation there.
The two leaders spoke on the phone amidst growing outrage around the world over the killing of six aid workers of Spanish American chef and restaurateur Jose Andres’s World Central Kitchen.
Earlier, the Israel Defence Forces apologized for the attack, saying the strike resulted from a “misidentification.”
Seven workers from the World Central Kitchen were killed on Monday night when their convoy delivering food was struck in Deir al-Balah. The incident led the US-based organization to suspend its operations in Gaza.
“I want to be very clear–the strike was not carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers. It was a mistake that followed a misidentification–at night during a war in very complex conditions. It shouldn’t have happened,” said IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi in a video statement.
“This incident was a grave mistake. Israel is at war with Hamas, not with the people of Gaza,” Halevi asserted. “We are sorry for the unintentional harm to the members of WCK.”
Halevi said the incident would be independently investigated with the findings to be presented “in the coming days.”
The United States, in February, also imposed sanctions on four entities operating as front companies and subsidiaries for US-designated Hamed Dehghan and Pishtazan Kavosh Gostar Boshra (PKGB)…reports Asian Lite News
The United States on Thursday designated one entity and identified 13 associated vessels as blocked property for facilitating illicit trade in support of Iran’s military, according to a statement by the US State Department.
The US is also updating one vessel name on the Specially Designated National (SDN) and Blocked Persons list.
“The United States is today designating one entity and identifying 13 associated vessels as blocked property, as well as updating one vessel name on the SDN List, for facilitating illicit trade in support of Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff (AFGS) and Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL),” the US state department said in the official statement.
The United States will continue to take action against entities that transport cargo or facilitate transactions in support of MODAFL and the AFGS, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or Iran’s foreign proxy and partner groups, it said.
“We remain committed to disrupting illicit funding streams financing Iran’s production of weapons that support Russia’s war against Ukraine and the attacks by Iranian proxy groups throughout the Middle East,” the statement added.
The United States, in February, also imposed sanctions on four entities operating as front companies and subsidiaries for US-designated Hamed Dehghan and Pishtazan Kavosh Gostar Boshra (PKGB).
These entities have supplied materials and sensitive technology for Iran’s ballistic missile and UAV programs, including Shahed-series UAVs being used by the Russian military against Ukraine, the US State Department said.
Iranian-made UAVs are used to commit acts of terror, including dozens of attacks by Iran- aligned militia groups on US personnel that have resulted in the deaths of US soldiers.
Iran-backed Houthis have also launched attacks on commercial vessels and US naval assets using Iranian-made UAVs and missiles, according to the US State Department.
The United States is committed to utilizing all available means to expose and hold individuals and entities accountable for contributing to the Iranian regime’s proliferation, which directly harms US personnel in the region and contributes to regional instability in the Middle East and Russia’s war against Ukraine, it said. (ANI)
Savings Deposits in banks have been on a consistently upward trajectory in recent years… reports Asian Lite News
According to recent statistics from the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE), savings deposits in the UAE banking sector, excluding interbank deposits, grew by 10.2 percent annually, reaching AED270.48 billion at the end of January 2024 compared to approximately AED245.54 billion in January 2023, attracting around AED25 billion.
The local currency, the dirham, accounted for the largest share of savings deposits, about 82 percent or AED222.01 billion, while the share of foreign currencies amounted to 18 percent or AED48.4 billion.
Savings Deposits in banks have been on a consistently upward trajectory in recent years, rising from AED152 billion at the end of 2018 to AED172.2 billion in 2019, and reaching AED215.2 billion in 2020, AED241.8 billion in 2021, and AED245.8 billion in 2022.
The Demand Deposits increased to AED1.001 trillion at the end of January 2024, with an annual growth rate of 9.5 percent compared to AED914.74 billion in January 2023, an increase equivalent to AED86.6 billion.
Demand Deposits total comprised AED720.55 billion in the local currency, the dirham, accounting for 72 percent, and around AED280.8 billion in foreign currencies, accounting for 28 percent.
Demand Deposits continued to grow in recent years, rising from AED577.6 billion at the end of 2018 to AED599.6 billion at the end of 2019, AED696.8 billion at the end of 2020, AED848 billion in 2021, and AED907.3 billion in 2022.
According to the Central Bank’s bulletin, Time Deposits reached AED796.9 billion at the end of January 2024, with a 30.3 percent annual increase compared to about AED611.69 billion in January 2023, an increase of AED185.2 billion.
The local currency, the dirham, accounted for the largest share of time deposits, about 60 percent or AED474.88 billion, while the share of foreign currencies amounted to about 40 percent or AED322.04 billion.
The U.S. says it has not confirmed the status of the building struck in Damascus, but that it would be concerned if it was a diplomatic facility…reports Asian Lite News
The United States, Britain and France on Wednesday opposed a Russian-drafted U.N. Security Council statement that would have condemned an attack on Iran’s embassy compound in Syria, which Tehran has blamed on Washington’s ally Israel.
Press statements by the 15-member council have to be agreed by consensus. Diplomats said the U.S., backed by France and Britain, told council colleagues that many of the facts of what happened on Monday in Damascus remained unclear and there was no consensus among council members during a meeting on Tuesday.
“This serves as a clear illustration of the double standards employed by the Western ‘troika’ and their actual, rather than declarative, approach to legality and order in the international context,” Russia’s deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said in a post on X.
The U.N. Security Council has issued statements in the past condemning attacks on diplomatic premises. The European Union on Wednesday condemned the strike – saying the inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises and personnel must be respected – and called on countries to show restraint.
The U.S. says it has not confirmed the status of the building struck in Damascus, but that it would be concerned if it was a diplomatic facility.
Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack, which destroyed a consular building adjacent to the main embassy complex, killing seven members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Iran has accused Israel of violating the founding U.N. Charter, international law, and also cited several conventions.
The 1961 Vienna Convention governing diplomatic relations and 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations define premises as buildings, parts of buildings and land – regardless of ownership – used for the purposes of the diplomatic or consular mission, including the head of the diplomatic mission.
Those conventions state that the diplomatic or consular premises “shall be inviolable.” But they also say the premises should “not be used in any manner incompatible” with the diplomatic and consular functions.
Iran also cited the 1973 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Internationally Protected Persons, including Diplomatic Agents – suggesting those killed were covered by these rules.
The initiative covers students residing in the UAE and registered in UAE government schools, where all their outstanding dues for their studies until the 2023-2024 academic year will be settled… reports Asian Lite News
President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has ordered the settlement of outstanding financial dues for UAE resident students registered in the country’s government schools for previous years of study, totaling AED155 million.
The initiative taken by H.H Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan epitomises the values of giving rooted in the UAE community and is part of his approach to provide support to students and enhance their drive to succeed in their studies.
The initiative covers students residing in the UAE and registered in UAE government schools, where all their outstanding dues for their studies until the 2023-2024 academic year will be settled, in coordination with the Emirates Schools Establishment.
The Foreign Office said on Thursday it kept advice on Israel’s adherence to the law under review but that the content of government advice was confidential…reports Asian Lite News
Three former Supreme Court justices have joined more than 600 members of the British legal profession in calling for the government to halt arms sales to Israel, saying it could make Britain complicit in genocide in Gaza.
Their call was also backed by two of the country’s leading intelligence experts, who argued that Britain needed to use any leverage it could to persuade Israel, and its biggest backer the United States, to change course in the conflict.
The British government has been a staunch ally of Israel since the eruption of hostilities on Oct. 7 but Foreign Secretary David Cameron has hardened his language in recent months over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Cameron said on March 8 that Israel had to be compliant with international humanitarian law in order for Britain to grant export licenses allowing arms sales to Israel, and that a judgment on that was underway and due in the “coming days.”
The Foreign Office said on Thursday it kept advice on Israel’s adherence to the law under review but that the content of government advice was confidential.
Senior members of Britain’s legal profession said the government needed to halt sales now to avoid “aiding and assisting an international wrongful act.”
“The provision of military assistance and material to Israel may render the UK complicit in genocide as well as serious breaches of International Humanitarian Law,” the judges, barristers and legal academics said in a 17-page letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
One of the former justices, Jonathan Sumption, told BBC Radio he was concerned the British government had lost sight of its own obligations under international law.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called any suggestion of genocide as “outrageous,” and has said Israel has an “unwavering commitment to international law.”
Sunak has resisted calls to immediately halt weapons sales to Israel, saying the government adheres to a “very careful licensing regime.”
But the killing of seven aid workers, including three British nationals, in Israeli airstrikes this week has ratcheted up the pressure. Israel said they were mistakenly killed.
Britain licenses the sale of British-made explosive devices, assault rifles and components for military aircraft to Israel but it is a relatively small supplier, with Israeli exports making up about 0.4 percent of Britain’s total global defense sales in 2022, the last full-year data was available.
Two senior figures in Britain’s intelligence community — former national security adviser Peter Ricketts and Alex Younger, the former head of the MI6 foreign spy service — have said those sales should be used as leverage.
Ricketts said there was “now abundant evidence” that Israel was not compliant with international humanitarian law and that a ban would send a message that could stir debate in Washington.
Younger told the BBC that Britain needed to “achieve leverage, and create incentives for more focus to be put on the issue of what is technically called collateral damage but what we would call as killing innocent civilians.”
Earlier this week, Alicia Kearns, the Conservative chair of parliament’s foreign affairs select committee, said ministers had been told by their lawyers that Israel had violated international law in its war in Gaza.
The government has in the past blocked sales to Israel, such as in 2009 when it revoked some licenses and in 1982 when there was a formal restriction on weapon sales after the invasion of Lebanon.
Soames joins calls for UK to stop arming Israel
The Conservative peer Nicholas Soames has joined calls for the UK to stop arming Israel after an airstrike killed seven aid workers in Gaza.
Soames, the grandson of Winston Churchill, said the UK should send a “message” about Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Hundreds of senior lawyers and judges, including three former supreme court justices, have said in a letter that the government is breaching international law by continuing to arm Israel.
Asked whether the UK should stop doing so, Soames said: “It’s probably time that that happened now, yes, I think if we’re determined to show that we are not prepared to countenance these ongoing disasters.”
He added: “Israel have every right to go after Hamas, there’s no shadow of doubt about that.”
The UK’s contribution to Israel’s arsenal “would be tiny and it’s probably parts more than anything else”, Soames said, but stopping the exports would send a message.
“I say this with real sadness because, I mean, first of all, what happened was an absolute tragedy, and secondly, it was absolutely inexcusable,” Soames said of the strike that killed the aid workers, including three Britons, on Monday.
“This is not a fog of war issue with these [aid workers]. They were quite clearly – the whole thing had been deconflicted, organised, everything, and something has gone very, very wrong, and the Israelis need to really get a grip of all this. And secondly, these people were doing the most wonderful work to provide aid to starving Palestinians … I think it is the message that matters.”
Soames joins his fellow Conservative peer Hugo Swire and three Tory MPs – David Jones, Paul Bristow and Flick Drummond – in calling for arms sales to be suspended.
A fourth Tory MP, Mark Logan, called on Thursday for the UK’s arms exports to Israel to be reviewed. “We need to seriously reassess any weapon materials/arms exports to Israel in light of what has happened,” he said in a post on X.
David Cameron, the foreign secretary, refused to answer any questions about Israel and Gaza when he was interviewed by the BBC’s Ukrainecast on Thursday morning. Cameron is in Brussels for a meeting of Nato foreign ministers.
The Liberal Democrats have written to the prime minister’s ethics adviser, Laurie Magnus, urging an investigation into whether continued UK arms sales to Israel could be a breach of the ministerial code.
In 2023, the private sector continued its strong growth, reaching AED 338.9 billion, up 35% compared to 2016. Supported by private sector and family-owned businesses, Abu Dhabi non-oil sectors is going from strength to strength…. reports Asian Lite News
The Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED), in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), organized the second edition of the Al Multaqa quarterly meetings, aiming to strengthen partnerships with the private sector and family offices. The meetings provided the business community with updates on the Emirate’s economy and achievements in 2023, while also emphasizing future opportunities.
Launched in Q4-2023, Al Multaqa Meetings empower Abu Dhabi’s to accelerate economic growth, by providing a platform for ongoing dialogues to support investment and the development of new policies that further enhance the Emirate’s business environment. In 2023, the private sector continued its strong growth, reaching AED 338.9 billion, up 35% compared to 2016. Supported by private sector and family-owned businesses, Abu Dhabi non-oil sectors is going from strength to strength, recording a growth of 9.1 per cent during 2023 to AED 610 billion to contribute 53.4% of total real GDP.
Addressing Al Multaqa meeting, Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED), said: “The importance of our collaborative efforts is reflected in Abu Dhabi’s growth indicators. Remarkably, we managed to achieve this strong performance despite global challenges, reflecting the strength and resilience of our ‘Falcon Economy’ and its ability to soar to new heights.” “Backed by decades-long experience, the private sector and family-owned businesses in Abu Dhabi continue to contribute to economic diversification as evidenced by their share in the highest growing non-oil sectors”.
Family-owned businesses in Abu Dhabi represent 50 per cent of companies in the construction sector, which grew by 13.1 per cent in 2023 compared to 2022, reaching more than AED97 billion; 60 per cent in the finance sector, which rose by 25.5 per cent to AED79 billion; 80 per cent in the wholesale trade sector, which achieved a growth of 7.9 per cent, to reach AED63 billion; and 70 per cent in the transportation sector, which rose by 17.1 per cent during past year.
Al Zaabi added: “In our first meeting, we underlined the crucial role that family offices and private sector play in Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s success. Today, I reiterate the importance of discussing promising opportunities, analyse challenges, and work together to overcome them. We are organising these meetings to ensure the exchange of opinions and to benefit from the extensive experiences and knowledge.”
Abdulla Gharib Alqemzi, Acting Director General of the Statistics Centre – Abu Dhabi, delivered a comprehensive presentation about economic performance of the Emirate during the past 10 years, which saw a 28.5 per cent growth of non-oil GDP, from AED 474.6 billion in 2014 to AED 610 billion in 2023, and a 19 percent rise of total real GDP, from AED 960.1 billion in 2014 to AED 1.14 trillion in 2023.
Alqemzi highlighted major sectors contributing to economic diversification efforts, including manufacturing, construction, finance, trade, transportation, real estate, and ICT.
Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO)’s Musataha Programme revealed several investment opportunities offered to the private sector, enabling investors to develop government-owned land. ADIO also announced investment opportunities in the sports field in different areas of the Emirate in addition to new sites that will be offered to develop feed-selling markets.
ADIO has signed agreement with Dustour Marine Wooden Boats Trading Est. to establish a new state-of-the-art project to support the Emirate’s coastal development in line with urban, social, recreational, and economic expansion plans.
ADDED’s Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) and SMEs sector shared significant updates to further improve ease of doing business and enable the private sector to benefit from ample opportunities provided by development plans.
