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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lady Lurksalot who wrote (5677)	3/13/2006 10:21:06 AM
From: Oral Roberts	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 71588

UAE bank chief rebukes US over ports row 1 hour, 32 minutes ago DUBAI (AFP) - The governor of the UAE central bank has sharply criticised US Congress opposition to the acquisition of six US ports by Dubai Ports World (DPW) and called for a reassessment of US trade links. ADVERTISEMENT "The American side that opposed the deal mixed economic and investment matters with issues of security and politics and this is the wrong approach and it will hurt free trade and international investment," Sultan bin Nasser al-Suwaidi said in remarks published Monday in several UAE-based Arabic papers. In a country that avoids controversy, Suwaidi's comments were the most critical made by any high-ranking UAE official since the DPW row erupted nearly one month ago. "Trade and investment relations with the United States must now be viewed from a new perspective," Suwaidi was quoted as telling a conference in Abu Dhabi on the local bond market. Free trade talks between the United States and the United Arab Emirates were postponed on Friday. But UAE officials said the delay had nothing to do with the ports controversy. The Dubai government, which owns DPW, pulled out of the maelstrom on Thursday by announcing it would offload the six US port operations it had acquired through its 6.9-billion-dollar takeover of Britain's Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P and O) in mid-February. The move spared US President George W. Bush, who backed the DPW deal, a showdown with Congress which ferociously opposed it on security grounds. Both Democrats and Republicans had attacked the deal, citing the fact that two of the 19 men involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks against New York and Washington were UAE nationals and said that most of the funds used in the attacks were channeled through the oil-rich Gulf state. Some even alluded to the fact that the UAE government was among a few in the world to recognise the fundamentalist Taliban regime in Afghanistan before it was ousted in a US-led operation at the end of 2001 for failing to hand over Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who masterminded the US attacks. A Republican congressional delegation was in Dubai Sunday to minimise potential fallout from the DPW controversy particularly given US eagerness to boost trade ties with the UAE, which currently has stronger business with Asia and Europe. "The prime minister showed tremendous leadership in urging Dubai Ports World to transfer the operation of the ports to a United States entity," said Senator Saxby Chambliss, a Republican from Georgia after meeting Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who in addition to being Dubai's ruler is prime minister and vice president of the seven-member UAE federation. The delegation which included another senator and two congressmen, all from the southern state of Georgia, met also port officials in Dubai. "We thanked the leadership for understanding the sensitivity of the situation," said Senator Johnny Isakson. "The UAE is our partner in the war on terrorism." In another sign of the UAE's disappointment over the ports deal, Suwaidi said the central bank was considering converting up to 10 percent of its hard currency reserves into euros from the present two percent ratio. Analysts said although this would be no surprise given similar moves by central banks in Asia, the timing may not be entirely coincidental. "It has political implications and it appears as some sort of a retaliation," said one analyst who did not wish to be identified. He said the bank's hard currency reserves were close to 40 billion dollars (33.6 billion euros) but the figure would surpass 300 billion dollars (252 billion euros) if funds channeled into the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority were included. Emirati Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed al-Maktum (C), DP World chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem (L) and the chairman of Emaar projects chief Mohammad Ali al-Abbar, in Dubai, in March 2004. The governor of the UAE central bank has sharply criticised US Congress opposition to the acquisition of six US ports by Dubai Ports World (DPW) and called for a reassessment of US trade links.(AFP/File/Nasser Younes) Funding our drunken deficit spending could very soon become difficult if these thoughts spread around the world IMO. And that is the outcome I see and fear.