ABU DHABI / WAM The Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (Added) and Tawazun Industrial Park, established by Tawazun Council, have signed a memorandum of understanding to boost industrial sector’s competitiveness and further develop it by implementing initiatives and programmes of the Abu Dhabi Industrial Strategy (Adis). The agreement was signed by Arafat Al Yafei, Executive Director of Added’s Industrial ...

BLOOMBERG Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the possible fall of Bakhmut “in the coming days” would not indicate a turning point in Russia’s war against Ukraine. “We must continue to provide support to Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said before a meeting with European Union (EU) defense ministers in Sweden. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander in charge of Ukraine’s ground forces, made a second ...

BLOOMBERG European Union (EU) defense ministers cautiously welcomed a plan to send Ukraine ammunition from their existing stocks, but urged the bloc to work faster on jointly procuring shells to jump-start production. “What is crucial is that Ukrainians direly need ammunition and we have to ramp up production within Europe,” Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson told reporters in Stockholm ahead ...

BLOOMBERG Back in November, before the latest downward spiral in US-China ties, Xi Jinping cast himself as a statesman in a meeting with Joe Biden. Saying both nations need “a responsibility for history,” Xi appeared to play ball with US calls to “compete vigorously” with China while establishing “guardrails” to avoid conflict. After speaking with Biden for more than three ...

BLOOMBERG The M23 rebel group clashed with Democratic Republic of Congo soldiers, defying a ceasefire that was meant to go into effect on March 7, according to the United Nations. “The secretary-general reiterates his call on the M23 to respect the ceasefire to create conditions for its full and effective withdrawal from all occupied areas,” Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman, said ...

BLOOMBERG UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will travel to the US next week to meet President Joe Biden and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese for a top-level meeting of the so-called Aukus allies. Sunak will be in the US, where he will meet the US and Australian leaders, his spokesman Max Blain told reporters. Talks are expected to focus on ...

BLOOMBERG  Sri Lanka’s rupee, which became the world’s best performing currency this year amid hopes of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout, may resume declines and lose a fifth of its value against the dollar by end-2023, according to Fitch Solutions. “We are optimistic that Sri Lanka will be able to secure an IMF board approval by early 2Q 2023,” ...

BLOOMBERG  Credit Suisse Group AG has obtained licenses allowing it to launch its wealth management business in China in the first half of this year as well as expand its securities trading and research activities onshore. The bank received its investment consultancy, proprietary trading and nationwide brokerage licenses, according to an internal memo. A spokeswoman for the bank confirmed the ...

BLOOMBERG  Ignazio Visco openly criticised hawkish European Central Bank (ECB) colleagues for making statements about future increases in borrowing costs when officials had agreed not to give such guidance. The outburst by the Bank of Italy governor, in added remarks at the end of a speech in Rome, is a pointed public attack that hints at rising tensions behind closed ...

BLOOMBERG  Bank of England (BOE) policy maker Swati Dhingra cautioned against raising interest rates further, saying that doing so could damage an already weak UK economy. The newest official on the central bank’s nine-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) said it would be prudent to hold borrowing costs steady for now and noted there’s little evidence of an inflationary spiral. “Overtightening ...