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White House thinks Europe is caught between US gas phase out and “Qatari influence”…
World Pensions Council director Nicolas Firzli interprets the “blurred signals sent by the Biden administration as America enters a pivotal electoral year [Biden/Trump replay], where the White House is facing rising pressures at home from progressive Democrat lawmakers and environmental groups, and seemingly insolvable geo-economic risks abroad”: Russia/Ukraine, Israel/Gaza Strip, China/Taipei authorities, Yemen/Red Sea shipping……
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Pension and Sovereign Fund Investment in 2024: Deploying LT Capital in a Fractured World Economy (Part 1)
in this liminary interview on Asharq News with Bloomberg, World Pensions Council director Nicolas Firzli looks at foreign direct investment (FDI) dynamics for 2024 in selected Asia Pacific, Arabian Gulf and African jurisdictions. The situation will remain “rather challenging in Egypt and Turkey… notably because of the lingering tensions between imported inflation, currency stabilization and…
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G7 Retirement Investment Rt. on Fed Meeting, Interest Rates Emerging Markets ex-China
M. Nicolas Firzli, the Hon. Nick Sherry & Christopher Smith, co-chaired the G7 Retirement Investment Roundtable (GRiR) and European ESG & Impact Summit (EES), 7–10 December 2023, held in the EU Capital at the start of the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council (1S_24). In this exclusive interview with Mohd. Fathy on Asharq News with Bloomberg, Western Asia’s…
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COP28: Biden and Xi Jinping’s Conspicuous Absence Makes Fossil Fuel Real Deal Unlikely
MN Firzli is founder & director-general of World Pensions Council (WPC), and cofounder of the G20 and World Bank–led Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF) Advisory Board (AB), and an adviser to, inter alia, North American, EU and ASEAN policy makers, focusing on the mobilization of foreign direct investment (FDI) in private markets assets, technological innovation and…
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Road to COP28: World Peace & Climate Justice Require More Inter-National Cooperation… Not a “New Cold War” Mindset
in their keynote address to the 2023 GMB Forum held in Borneo, Malaysia, 28–30 November 2023, on the eve of the Dubai COP 28 Summit, Maher Nicolas Firzli, World Pensions, and Christopher Smith, City of Westminster, shared their personal views re fostering peaceful coexistence at home and abroad, strengthening inter-national financial cooperation, and the need…
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Cold War II and the Asianized World: Financial Markets Adjusting to “The Great Pivot”
in this exclusive interview croisée with Nozipho Tshabalala, AllanGray Pension Leaders Summit, Maher–Nicolas J. Firzli and the Hon. Nick Sherry look at “the future of finance in the Age of Geoeconomics” … The new era will be marked by “durably higher interest rates” and an accelerating shift of economic growth dynamics towards “ASEAN, India, the…
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Private Equity, Infrastructure Investment: from ‘Alternative’ Assets to Investment Mainstay
Sophisticated pension investors and sovereign wealth funds are integrating geoeconomic considerations in their assessment of risks & returns across asset classes and jurisdictions. They are also raising their allocation to private market assets across the board: PE, VC, and also infrastructure, farmland and forestry etc. The current geo-economic realignment could favour ‘pension superpowers’ like the…
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China’s New Silk Road & America’s Tech Cold War Reshaping World Economy
EU ASEAN Centre director MN Firzli was one of the first experts to look at the geoeconomic impact of chairman Xi’s “Belt & Road Initiative” (BRI) when it was established a decade ago. Fast forward today, the BRI’s Gargantuan infrastructure investment ambitions are partially but not totally “mugged by the reality” of 1) China’s sluggish…
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Financial Markets Shrug off Gaza Conflict as White House Steps-up “Industrial Cold War” with China …
in this interview with Asharq News with Bloomberg, held at the start of the 2023 IMF & World Bank Group annual meetings (Marrakech Summit), EU ASEAN Ctr. director MN Firzli looks at the tragic events of Ashqelon, Sderot and Ghazzat Hashem from a geoeconomic perspective: assessing their potential impact on financial markets in the United…
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G7/EU Equity Markets Frailty: Why Europe’s Broken Growth Engine Means Lowers Returns
in his Sept. 25 2023 interview on Asharq News with Bloomberg, MN Firzli, co-chair of the EU ASEAN Centre (EuAC) and director general of the G7 Pensions Dialogue (G7 P7) shares his latest geoeconomic growth and country risk & attractiveness(CRA) research findings with Mohd. Salti and Maya Hojeij. In the “Western EU core”, defined as…