Abu Dhabi to invest US$10 billion in Israel

The biggest news from Israeli President Isaac Herzog's visit to the United Arab Emirates was not to do with diplomacy or defense but the huge amount Abu Dhabi plans to invest in Israel.

According to the sources privy to the details, UAE Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed has decided to unfreeze US$10 billion in Israeli companies that he had promised to former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The UAE's large sovereign funds will divide the investments between them, including the ADIA Fund and the Mubadala Fund, although the first fund that will enter the Israeli market is the ADG (Abu Dhabi Growth) Fund, part of the ADQ Group. This fund plans investing US$200 million in Israeli companies during the year 2022, and a similar sum each year over 10 years.

A senior source, Abu Dhabi has been waiting patiently for the Israeli political scene to stabilize before renewing the process of fulfilling bin Zayed's promise. Herzog's visit, personal, diplomatic but not political, meant that he was the right person at the right time to officially initiate the investment process.

ADG Fund Chairman Faris Mohammed Al Mazrouei met with several members of the small Israeli delegation that accompanied President Herzog. At meetings in Abu Dhabi, the Israelis and Emiratis spoke about the mechanisms for the investment and how organizations like the Manufacturers Association of Israel and the Israel Export Institute would help direct the investments.

Another important link in the chain will be Start-Up National Central, which in recent years has specialized in matching up Israeli startups with investors. Start-Up National Central CEO Avi Hasson, who traveled to the UAE as part of President Herzog's delegation, informed that the unfreezing of the US$10 billion by the UAE for investment in Israel was highly significant for both the countries. He said that the Emirati use the investment funds as a strategic tool and are expressing through the funds the importance with which they see relations with Israel.

Hasson thinks that Israel is perceived by the Emirati as a symbol of innovation and progress due to the companies located here, and therefore it represents a good investment. "This is not philanthropy or a political investment fund," he said. "The Emirati are seeking profits from their investments. We do not have a commercial agenda but extensive knowhow of the abilities in the advanced technology sector and the ability to connect Israeli companies with the precise needs of investors."

Hasson stressed there has to be a match between the Israeli ‘here and now’ approach and the slower UAE approach of first building trust through a genuine connection between the parties and only then moving forward.

Pentagon deploying 3,000 troops to allies in Europe

According to a report, the Pentagon is deploying over 3,000 troops to bolster European allies, the first such movement as the United States looks to bolster NATO’s capabilities in the region amid growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

“At the President’s direction and Secretary Austin’s recommendation, the Department of Defense will reposition certain Europe-based units further east, forward deploy additional US-based units to Europe, and maintain the heightened state of readiness of response forces to meet these commitments,” a senior administration official said in a statement to The Hill.

“These forces are not going to fight in Ukraine. They are not permanent moves. They respond to current conditions,” the official added.

News of the deployment was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. According to the newspaper, the troops will be deployed to Germany and Poland.

Russia has amassed upward of 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine, and the Biden administration is now warning that a military incursion of Ukraine is imminent.

The Pentagon last month put 8,500 troops on high alert to deploy, largely to bolster NATO’s response force. However, President Biden has been clear that no US forces will be deployed directly to Ukraine.

 

Israel getting new laser defense system ready

Israel is getting itself surrounded with a defensive laser wall, with new missile interception technology, which will be ready within a year, announced Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in a speech at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.

The IDF will begin using the laser interception system in the next year, first experimentally and later operationally, starting in the South.

“This will allow us, in the medium to long-term, to surround Israel with a laser wall that will defend us from missiles, rockets, UAVs and other threats that will essentially take away the strongest card our enemies have against us,” Bennett said.

The Defense Ministry successfully intercepted drones with the powerful airborne laser system installed on light aircraft in June last year. The system downed several UAVs at a range of one kilometer with a 100% success rate. The ministry intends to build a laser with a power of 100 kilowatts that will have an effective range of 20 km.

Bennett explained that today a terrorist in Gaza can launch a rocket into Israel that costs hundreds of dollars to make, while the Iron Dome battery shooting down the rocket costs tens of thousands of dollars.

“This equation doesn’t make sense,” the prime minister stated. “It allows [the terrorists] to launch more and more Kassams and for us to shed many millions on a ‘lightning strike’ and billions during a campaign. We decided to break the equation, and it will be broken in only a few years.”

At that point, Bennett said, Israel’s enemies “will invest a lot, and we will invest a little. If you can intercept a missile or rocket with an electric pulse that costs a few dollars, we are weakening the ring of fire that Iran has built on our borders.”

Israel will offer the laser technology to its regional allies that are also facing threats from Iran and its proxies, the prime minister said.

Bennett repeated his comparison of Iran to an octopus, sending its tentacles – proxies – to wreak havoc throughout the Middle East, and growing stronger all the time.

“The campaign to weaken Iran has begun,” he said. “This campaign is in all dimensions: nuclear, economic, cyber, open and secret actions, alone and in cooperation with others. The weaker Iran is, the weaker its proxies are. The hungrier the octopus is, the more its tentacles shrivel.”

Bennett expressed hope that the nuclear talks between world powers and Iran “will end without an agreement, because that agreement is bad for Israel.”

“Removing sanctions and flooding the Iranian regime with billions of dollars means more rockets, more UAVs, more terrorist cells, more cyber attacks and propaganda operations,” he said.

The prime minister pointed out that the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps and its proxies have been actively attacking the United Arab Emirates and other countries while the Vienna talks are ongoing.

“That is the definition of negotiations under fire. That’s blackmail,” he said.

Israel’s strategy to fight back against Iran will stand regardless of the results in Vienna, because “even with an agreement, we think the Iranians will continue to be the Iranians,” he added.

“If an agreement is signed and the flow of dollars is renewed, we all understand Iranian aggression will only increase in the region.”

In addition, Bennett pointed out that the sunset clauses in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which the delegations in Vienna are seeking to revive, expires in a short time, at the end of 2030.

With US Ambassador Tom Nides in the audience, Bennett said that Washington’s interests and Jerusalem’s “do not always overlap.”

“Their interest in our region is lessening,” Bennett said of the Americans. “Their eyes are currently focused on the border of Russia and Ukraine, and in the long term, they are in a strategic conflict with China.”

There is “no longer one global policeman,” he said.

“There are no vacuums in the geopolitical arena,” Bennett stated. “Any place that is cleared is immediately taken. The United States’ place in the region can be filled – God forbid – by forces of terror and hate, and it could be filled by Israel.”

Israel’s allies in the region could be part of a “multidimensional alliance” against forces that seek to destabilize the Middle East, he said.

India trying to win over hearts of its neighbors

According to The Bangladesh Chronicle, India has announced substantial assistance for all the SAARC member countries, except Pakistan. The announcement was made by Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the 2022-23 budget in the parliament.

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an economic and political organization of eight countries in South Asia. It was established in 1985 when the Heads of State of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka formally adopted the charter. Afghanistan joined as the 8th member of SAARC in 2007. To date, 18th Summits have been held and Nepal’s former Foreign Secretary is the current Secretary General of SAARC. The 19th Summit was to be hosted by Pakistan in 2016, which never happened.

India announced Rs 300 crore annual budgetary financial assistance for Bangladesh, up from Rs 200 crore in the outgoing fiscal 2021-22. The allocation of the financial assistance has been provided for the Ministry of External Affairs.

Myanmar will get Rs 600 crore, Rs 200 crore more than last financial year, and Nepal will get Rs 750 crore from India in the coming fiscal.

India has allocated Rs 200 crore as aid to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan in for 2022-23 even though New Delhi does not have diplomatic presence in Kabul where its embassy has remained closed since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August last.

The government of Ashraf Ghani in Afghanistan had in the last fiscal received around Rs 348 crore from India.

The Maldives at Rs 360 crore (as against Rs 250 crore in 2021-22) also saw an increase in India’s annual aid provision in today’s budget document.

At Rs 2,266.24 crore in 2022-23, Bhutan is once again be the highest recipient of India’s annual financial aid. But this is lower than Rs 3,004.95 crore in 2021-22 fiscal.

The second highest recipient in the coming financial year of the allocation will be the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius — Rs 900 crore.

 

US still trading with Iran despite sanctions

According to the data released by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), the value of trade between Iran and the United States has reached US$69.594 million since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2021) up to late January 2022.

As ILNA reported, during the mentioned period Iran exported US$248,000 worth of commodities to the US, while the value of imports from the country was reported at US$69.345 million.

The value of trade between the two countries increased 18% as compared to the figures for the previous year. The value of exports to the US increased 253% as compared to the previous year, when exports were reported at US$136,000.

The imports, however, decreased by 17% compared to the figure for the previous year during which Iran imported US$79.836 million worth of commodities from the US, the US ranked 23rd among the top exporters to the Islamic Republic.

The value of Iran’s non-oil exports rose 38% during the first 10 months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2021-January 20, 2022), as compared to the same period of time in the past year, according to IRICA Head Alireza Moghadasi.

Iran exported over 100 million tons of non-oil products worth US$38.763 billion in the mentioned period, the official said.

According to Moghadasi, the weight of exports in the mentioned period also grew by seven percent in comparison to the figure for the previous fiscal year’s same 10 months.

He said major export destinations of the Iranian non-oil goods were China, Iraq, and Turkey during the said 10 months.

The IRICA head further announced that the Islamic Republic imported 33 million tons of non-oil commodities worth US$41.473 billion in the mentioned period, a 34% growth in value and a 17$ rise in weight, year on year.

The United Arab Emirates was the top exporter to Iran during the period under reiew, followed by China, Turkey, Germany, and Switzerland, he stated.

Bickering over hiring lobbyist firms in Bangladesh

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen today said that the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami had appointed eight lobbyist firms so that the US stops providing aid and development assistance to Bangladesh.

While delivering his statement in the parliament, Momen said that the government has also proof that BNP, through appointing lobbyists, was involved in imposing US sanctions on Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and appealed to the United Nations Department of Peace Operations to ban the force from UN deployment.

The foreign minister came up with the statement following Jatiya Party and BNP lawmaker’s Sunday’s demand in parliament on the much-talked issue of appointing lobbyists by the BNP and the government. In his statement, Momen said, BNP-appointed lobbyists have provided such statements against Bangladesh that would offend the people of the country.

“BNP has told them (the US) that the security of the USA will be hindered due to Bangladesh.

The minister raised questions about the source of huge money that BNP had spent to pay those lobbyist firms, and demanded an investigation into how that money was sent abroad.

There might be differences of opinion between the government and the BNP, but the country cannot be harmed like that, he added.

The foreign minister also said hiring lobbyists in the US is a legal process under the US law. India, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and other countries and organizations around the world appoint lobbyists to improve political and economic relations, he added.

Jamaat hired a firm to stop the trial of war criminals in 2014. For this they paid US$150,000. They hired another lobbyist firm to stop the trial proceedings.

He said the BNP had spent US$120,000 each month as retainer fee and US$2.7 million each year from February 2015 to April 2017.

Momen said the BNP had hired four lobbyist firms till 2017 and one in 2019, and to prevent the trial of war criminals, BNP-Jamaat appointed three lobbyist firms.

The foreign minister said that none of the BNP workers in the grassroots would want Bangladesh’s trade and commerce to shut. Some of their top-level leaders have done such things without informing them. Also, some BNP members had written to the UN secretary general to declare Bangladesh’s parliament illegal, he added.

Stating that lifting of sanctions against the RAB will take time, Momen said that the United States would lift its sanctions on the RAB if accurate information is provided to them.

Commenting that the government is working on the US sanctions against the RAB, the foreign minister said that the work on partnership dialogue with the United States will start next month. “There will be a security dialogue in April.”

Indicating that it would take some time to lift the embargo, the foreign minister said, “We have held several meetings with the USA. Insha Allah, whenever we will be able to provide the information to them properly, I believe the sanction will be withdrawn from a very good organization like RAB.”

The minister added, “But the process will not start tomorrow. It will take time. We have to be patient.”

The minister in his statement said, the government had not hired lobbyists, rather it has hired a PR firm.

“The government didn’t hire any such body who engaged in lobbying the Senate and the State Department,” he said, adding, “What the government did was to stop the spreading of propaganda against the country, and to spread the real information to counter the false information.”

He said an organization called BGR was appointed in 2014-15. The BGR was appointed to stop the anti-Bangladesh campaign.

 

Trade between Iran and Russia likely to touch new record

The trade turnover between Russia and Iran is likely to reach record-breaking US$4 billion as of 2021 year-end, Russian Trade Representative in Iran Rustam Zhiganshin told TASS.

"The turnover surged by 89.4% during the first eleven months against the like period of the last year and stood at US$3.76 billion. Grounds are in place to expect we will reach the record-high figure of US$4 billion as of 2021 year-end," the trade representative said.

"Agricultural produce account for about 80% in the trade turnover between the countries," Zhiganshin said. "Grains and oil-bearing crops moved up in our export in the first instance," he said. "Export of vaccines can be noted among new positions - our relevant supplies to Iran totaled US$45 million," he said.

"Implementation of certain projects in the energy sphere is underway, which became more active in 2021. This backed the turnover growth over the last year," Zhiganshin noted. "Vegetables, fruits, dried fruits and nuts are imported from Iran in the first instance," he said.

Also, the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) announced last week that the value of trade between Iran and Russia rose 41% in the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-December 21, 2021), as compared to the same period of time in the past year.

Head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) Alireza Peyman Pak has stressed the need for establishing export consortia between Iran and Russia for accelerating mutual trade under the framework of the agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

Peyman Pak made the remarks in a meeting with the Russian Ambassador to Tehran Levan Dzhagaryan Back in November 2021.

In this meeting, major Russian companies were introduced to the Iranian side to cooperate in various sectors including production, trade, and export, while the issue of extraterrestrial cultivation and establishing joint plants for food processing were also discussed.

The need for cooperation between the two countries to facilitate the transit of goods and the removal of customs barriers by the Russian side as well as facilitating the issuance of visas to traders and drivers were also among the issues discussed in the meeting.