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UAE strengthens ties with ASEAN countries at Jakarta summit

Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi, the UAE’s minister of state for foreign trade, at the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit 2023 in Jakarta, Indonesia. (WAM)
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Updated 05 September 2023
Arab News
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UAE strengthens ties with ASEAN countries at Jakarta summit

  • Southeast Asian countries are natural partners for the UAE due to their pro-growth, pro-trade agendas, minister says
Updated 05 September 2023
Arab News

LONDON: Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi, the UAE’s minister of state for foreign trade, led a delegation to the Association of South East Asian Nations Business and Investment Summit in Jakarta on Sunday, Emirates News Agency reported on Tuesday.

The annual economic policy forum involves heads of state, politicians and corporate leaders debating key issues confronting Southeast Asia.

During a session entitled “Innovation, Sustainability, and Prosperity: Strengthening the UAE-ASEAN Partnership,” Al-Zeyoudi emphasized the significance of ASEAN to the UAE’s foreign trade agenda. 

In his keynote address, he said Southeast Asian countries were natural trade and investment partners for the UAE due to their pro-growth, pro-trade agendas. He highlighted the many opportunities to be developed in sectors such as agriculture, renewable energy, advanced technology, logistics, and sustainable travel and tourism.

“The ASEAN Business and Investment Summit is an event that shapes the economic agenda of one of the most dynamic regions in the world — and the conversations and resolutions that take place here resonate far beyond Southeast Asia,” Al-Zeyoudi said. “I believe that, as the economic center of gravity continues to shift eastwards, the UAE and ASEAN can form a powerful new corridor of opportunity, one that can direct capital into high-growth sectors, develop new solutions in food security and energy transition, and create clusters of excellence in the industries of the future.

“Our CEPA (Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) program, which includes completed deals with Indonesia and Cambodia and the launch of negotiations with Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, underlines our confidence in these economies — and their role in delivering a new Asian future.”

Al-Zeyoudi was also the guest of honor at a private-sector roundtable organized by the Asia House think tank to discuss the evolving UAE-ASEAN relationship. He discussed the country’s foreign trade agenda, its growing involvement in global trade policy, and its goal to strengthen trade and investment ties with ASEAN.

Al-Zeyoudi also met regional prime ministers, ministers and senior government officials to explore increased trade and investment opportunities between the UAE and ASEAN. His aim was also to build consensus on key global trade issues before the World Trade Organization’s 13th Ministerial Conference in February.

Al-Zeyoudi met ASEAN Secretary-General Dr. Kao Kim Hourn and Deputy Secretary-General Satvinder Singh to discuss the UAE-ASEAN partnership, which was solidified when the UAE signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia in 2022. 

During the first half of 2023, the UAE and ASEAN traded goods worth $15.3 billion.

Al-Zeyoudi said ASEAN accounted for 5.2 percent of non-oil foreign trade in the UAE in 2022, totaling $32.2 million. The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to expanding economic cooperation.

Meetings with Indonesian ministers, including Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan, Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia, and Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno, focused on implementing the UAE-Indonesia CEPA, which came into force on Friday. 

The UAE and Indonesia agreed to work together to achieve $10 billion in bilateral non-oil trade within five years.

Al-Zeyoudi also met senior representatives of the Indonesia Chamber of Commerce to strengthen private-sector partnerships in critical industries and increase bilateral trade flows. Agriculture, energy, logistics, tourism and the Islamic economy were identified as having the highest potential for bilateral trade and investment.

The UAE minister later met Cham Nimol, Cambodia’s minister of commerce, to discuss a roadmap for implementing a CEPA signed between the two countries in June. He also met Tengku Abdul Aziz, Malaysia’s minister of investment, trade and industry; Nguyen Hong Dien, Vietnam’s minister of industry and trade; Alfredo Pascual, the Philippines’ minister of industry and trade; Francisco Kalbuadi Lay, East Timor’s deputy prime minister; and John Denton AO, secretary-general of the International Chamber of Commerce.

 

Topics: ASEAN Summit UAE

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Major Palestinian hospital in Gaza out of service due to Israeli attacks

Updated 5 sec ago
Arab News
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Major Palestinian hospital in Gaza out of service due to Israeli attacks

  • Gaza European Hospital is the only remaining facility providing medical follow-up for cancer patients
  • Intensive care units for premature infants lack incubators, respirators and oxygen supplies, and are at risk of shutdown
Updated 5 sec ago
Arab News

LONDON: A major Palestinian hospital in the southern Gaza announced it was out of service on Thursday after Israeli attacks damaged its facilities.

The Gaza European Hospital in Khan Younis has sustained extensive damage due to Israeli bombings, impacting the building’s sewage network and internal medical departments, and destroying the roads that lead to it.

The hospital has 28 intensive care beds, 12 incubators, 260 hospital beds, 25 emergency beds and 60 oncology beds; however, all are out of service, Wafa news agency reported.

The Gaza European Hospital is the only remaining facility providing medical follow-up for cancer patients in the Gaza Strip, after Israeli forces destroyed the Turkish Friendship Hospital in March.

Medical sources told Wafa that the hospital can no longer provide specialized services such as neurosurgery, thoracic surgery, a cardiac catheterization center, cardiovascular surgery and ophthalmology.

Intensive care units for premature infants in the hospital lack incubators, respirators and oxygen supplies, and are at risk of complete shutdown due to a severe diesel shortage to operate power generators. The hospital warned that premature infants in incubators are at risk of malnutrition, medical complications and even death, Wafa reported.

The hospital urged humanitarian and health organizations to urgently provide essential medical supplies, fuel, power generators and nutritional support.

Since March, Israel has prohibited the entry of humanitarian aid and relief into the Gaza Strip as it resumed military actions in the area. Reports indicate that 57 children have died from malnutrition-related causes since then.

Additionally, UN-backed food security experts have warned that hunger and malnutrition have sharply intensified since the onset of the Israeli aid relief blockade in March.

Topics: War on Gaza

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HRW: Israel’s Gaza blockade has become ‘tool of extermination’

Updated 4 min 44 sec ago
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HRW: Israel’s Gaza blockade has become ‘tool of extermination’

Updated 4 min 44 sec ago
“Israel’s blockade has transcended military tactics to become a tool of extermination,” HRW interim executive director Federico Borello said
Israel said the pressure aimed to force Hamas to free hostages in Gaza

BEIRUT: Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that Israel’s total blockade of the Gaza Strip, in place since March 2, has become “a tool of extermination.”

“Israel’s blockade has transcended military tactics to become a tool of extermination,” HRW interim executive director Federico Borello said in a statement.

Israel blocked all aid from entering Gaza on March 2, before resuming its military operations on March 18 after talks to prolong a six-week ceasefire collapsed.

Israel said the pressure aimed to force Hamas to free hostages in Gaza, most of them held since the Palestinian Islamist movement’s unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack.

Israel denies that a humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Gaza.

In its statement, HRW said that “the Israeli government’s plan to demolish what remains of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure and concentrate the Palestinian population into a tiny area would amount to an abhorrent escalation of its ongoing crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and acts of genocide.”

For weeks, humanitarian organizations and the United Nations have warned that supplies of everything from food and clean water to fuel and medicine are reaching new lows.

Borello also criticized “plans to squeeze Gaza’s 2 million people into an even tinier area while making the rest of the land uninhabitable.”

The UN estimates that 70 percent of Gaza is now either an Israeli-declared no-go zone or under evacuation order.

UNICEF says artillery fire leaves Sudan hospital patients without water

Updated 17 min 39 sec ago
AFP
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UNICEF says artillery fire leaves Sudan hospital patients without water

  • “Yesterday, a UNICEF-supported water truck in the Saudi hospital compound, El-Fasher, was destroyed by artillery fire,” the UN agency said
  • The conflict has effectively split the country in two
Updated 17 min 39 sec ago
AFP

KHARTOUM: Around 1,000 critically ill patients in Sudan’s Darfur region are nearly without drinking water after artillery fire destroyed a water tanker at a hospital, UNICEF said on Wednesday.

The tanker was stationed at the Saudi hospital, one of the few still operational in El-Fasher, a city in North Darfur with a population of around two million.

The city is the only state capital among Darfur’s five states to remain outside the control of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), but has been under siege by the paramilitary group since May 2024.

“Yesterday, a UNICEF-supported water truck in the Saudi hospital compound, El-Fasher, was destroyed by artillery fire, disrupting access to safe water for an estimated 1,000 severely ill patients,” the UN agency said.

“UNICEF continues to call on all parties to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law and end all attacks on or near critical civilian infrastructure,” it added.

The war in Sudan, now in its third year, has pitted the armed forces led by General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan against the RSF headed by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

The conflict has effectively split the country in two, with the army controlling the north, east, and center, while the RSF dominates nearly all of Darfur and parts of the south.

On Wednesday, the army accused the RSF in a statement of targeting populated areas of the city.

In April, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) estimated that 70 to 80 percent of health facilities in conflict-affected areas in Sudan were out of service, citing El-Fasher as a prime example.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced 13 million, including 5.6 million in Darfur alone.

According to the UN, the war has caused the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Both sides in the conflict have been accused of war crimes, including deliberately targeting civilians, indiscriminately bombing residential areas and obstructing the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Topics: Sudan Unrest UNICEF

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UN says ‘alarmed’ by escalating violence in Libya’s Tripoli

Updated 35 min 6 sec ago
AFP
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UN says ‘alarmed’ by escalating violence in Libya’s Tripoli

  • IOM called "for an immediate cessation of hostilities to ensure the safety and wellbeing of civilians
  • The IOM said it was "alarmed by the recent escalation of violence in Tripoli"
Updated 35 min 6 sec ago
AFP

GENEVA: The United Nations voiced alarm Thursday at escalating violence in Tripoli, warning of a “severe risk of mass displacement and danger to civilians.”

The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) called “for an immediate cessation of hostilities to ensure the safety and wellbeing of civilians in accordance with International Humanitarian Law.”

Their statement came amid fresh unrest in Libya, which has struggled to recover from the NATO-backed 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi.

The country remains split between a UN-recognized government in Tripoli, led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, and a rival administration in the east, controlled by the Haftar family.

Fresh gunbattles erupted Wednesday in the Libyan capital between two powerful armed groups, a security official said, a day after the authorities had declared the fighting over.

The IOM said it was “alarmed by the recent escalation of violence in Tripoli.”

It added: “We are also concerned by the mobilization of armed groups in surrounding regions. There is a severe risk of mass displacement and danger to civilians.”

On Tuesday, the Tripoli-based government said the fighting had been controlled and announced a ceasefire, even as shots were still fired in western parts of Tripoli.

“We welcome reports of a ceasefire and urge that it be fully and unconditionally respected to safeguard the rights and dignity of all those in the affected areas,” the IOM said.

“IOM continues working with partners to support humanitarian access to all vulnerable groups, including migrants,” it added.

“We are monitoring possible displacement trends and stand ready to support should needs arise.”

Topics: Libya International Organization for Migration (IOM)

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South Sudan medical system collapsing as clashes rage: MSF

Updated 59 min 16 sec ago
AFP
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South Sudan medical system collapsing as clashes rage: MSF

  • “We are talking about a major conflict that is taking place over multiple fronts,” said MSF’s operations manager Bakri Abubakr
  • Abubakr labelled the subsequent displacement a “major crisis“
Updated 59 min 16 sec ago
AFP

NAIROBI: Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Thursday that attacks on medical facilities were rising in South Sudan as “major conflict” caused mass displacement, leaving under-resourced health centers struggling to cope.

South Sudan has long grappled with insecurity and political instability, but tensions between President Salva Kiir and his rival, Vice President Riek Machar, have spilt over into clashes between their forces around the country in recent months.

International attention has focused on fighting in Upper Nile State, but MSF warned that clashes were also occurring in the states of Jonglei, Unity, and Western Central Equatorial.

“We are talking about a major conflict that is taking place over multiple fronts and multiple locations,” said MSF’s operations manager Bakri Abubakr.

Abubakr labelled the subsequent displacement a “major crisis” — with roughly 60,000 people displaced in Upper Nile State and 50,000 in Jonglei alone.

MSF teams witnessed entire villages displaced, he said, saying “hospitals, health facilities and community facilities have been abandoned as well from their staff.”

“We are witnessing a collapsing health system in the country,” he said, adding that only half of South Sudan’s medical facilities were operational even before the latest fighting.

Roughly 80 percent of the country’s health care system is funded by international bodies, MSF said, with Juba contributing just 1.3 percent from its budget.

“We see a rise of attacks on health care facilities, medical personnel, civilian population,” said MSF’s Abdalla Hussein, including attacks on White River Nile barges carrying vital supplies and looting of remote outposts.

The UN says eight medical facilities have been struck this year, and MSF believes the figure could be even higher.

MSF’s head of mission Zakariya Mwatia described rising numbers of wounded arriving at Malakal city after weeks sleeping rough and traveling through the bush, their health hanging by a thread — with staff unable to save them.

“We are yet to see the worst,” he added.

Topics: Doctors Without Borders (MSF) South Sudan

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