News

ABU DHABI / WAM The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation lifted the ban on Emirati citizens travelling to Lebanon, with effect from Wednesday. Khalid Balhoul, Ministry’s Under-Secretary, said the decision came following an extensive follow up by Ministry to border security and after obtaining related guarantees from Lebanese government. “The decision to lift the travel ban emanates from …

GENEVA / WAM The Emirate of Dubai, represented by the Dubai Investment Development Agency (DUBAI FDI), been elected for the Presidency of the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (Waipa). Dubai FDI will be the president of the new Steering Committee that will lead the global FDI body from 2019 to 2021, reflecting the confidence of the international community in …

Bloomberg Kristalina Georgieva, in her first major address as head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), painted a downbeat picture of the world economy and said a more severe slowdown could require governments to coordinate fiscal-stimulus measures. In a speech that sets the tone for next week’s annual meeting of the IMF, Georgieva said the fund will cut its growth …

Abu Dhabi / WAM The UAE has around AU$26 billion (AED64 billion) worth of investments in Australia, revealed a senior Australian official on Monday. The Australian Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, said that Australia and the UAE enjoy a strong bilateral relationship in areas including trade and investment, defence, law enforcement, security and consular cooperation. He told the Emirates News …

LONDON / WAM Masdar, a subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Company, on Monday joined UK government leaders in London for a specialised industry event to discuss its recent investment in the Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund (CIIF). Last month, Masdar became the first commercial investor in UK government’s GBP400 million CIIF, which aims to more than double the country’s electric vehicle charging …

LONDON / WAM UAE-linked Petrofac, an international service provider to the oil and gas production and processing industry, has secured a contract to support the appraisal and selection phase of the Greater Buchan Area development in Britain’s North Sea. Under the terms of the agreement, Petrofac will provide facilities and well support to Jersey Oil & Gas (JOG), which was …

Bloomberg Oil gained after its biggest weekly slump since July ahead of the resumption of US-China trade talks that may sway a cloudy demand outlook. Futures in New York added as much as 1.7% after losing 5.5% last week. Chinese officials are signaling they’re increasingly reluctant to agree to a broad deal pursued by President Donald Trump, according to people …

GENEVA / WAM The UAE, represented by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), chaired the annual meeting of the ITU Council Working Group on Child Online Protection (COP), at the ITU headquarters in Geneva. The meeting, chaired by the TRA’s Abdelaziz Al Zarooni, saw participants discuss the development of global COP guidelines and the exchange of experiences among Member States on …

Bloomberg Chinese officials are signaling they’re increasingly reluctant to agree to a broad trade deal pursued by President Donald Trump, ahead of negotiations this week that have raised hopes of a potential truce. In meetings with US visitors to Beijing, senior Chinese officials have indicated the range of topics they’re willing to discuss has narrowed considerably, according to people familiar …

Abu Dhabi / WAM Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, HH Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chief of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince’s Court, officially opened the 26th World Road Congress Abu Dhabi 2019 on Sunday as discussions on …