Annual Co-ordinating Meeting of Joint Arab-Foreign Chambers

Delegates to the annual co-ordinating meeting for the Joint Arab-Foreign Chambers in Cairo at the headquarters of the Arab League.

• Mr Bandar Reda, Secretary General & CEO, ABCC, and Prof Mohamed Lotfi, President,

British University in Egypt (BUE). • CEOs and Secretary Generals of the Joint Arab-Foreign Chambers with Mr Reda (fourth right). • Mr Reda (centre) with Mr Abdeslam El-Idrissi, ABCC Deputy CEO & Secretary General, and Prof Lotfi and colleagues from the BUE. • Prof Lotfi greets Mr Reda and Mr El-Idrissi on their visit to the BUE. • The annual meeting of Joint Arab-Foreign Chambers in session. • Mr Reda and Mr El-Idrissi in the conference room of the Arab League. • H E Dr Nevine Gamea, Minister of Trade and Industry, Egypt, receives Mr Reda and Mr El-Idrissi in her office.

Annual Co-ordinating Meeting of the Joint Arab-Foreign

Chambers

Mr Bandar Reda, ABCC Secretary General & CEO, accompanied by Mr Abdeslam El-Idrissi, ABCC Deputy CEO & Secretary General, travelled to Egypt in January 2022 on an official business visit to represent the ABCC at the annual co-ordinating meeting of the Joint Arab-Foreign Chambers, which was held at the League of Arab States headquarters in Cairo.

The meeting was chaired by H E Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary General of the League of Arab States, in the presence of H E Abdullah Mohamed alMazrouei, President of the Union of Arab Chambers.

Mr Reda and Mr ElIdrissi participated in the meeting along with Arab chairmen, vice chairmen, and secretariesgeneral for the joint chambers, the general secretariat of the Union of Arab Chambers, and the general secretariat of the League of Arab States participated in the discussions.

The meeting’s agenda covered several important trade topics, including the activities of the Joint Arab-Foreign Chambers during the past two years of exceptional conditions caused by the pandemic and the work plan for the current year as the global economy enters its recovery period. Delegates discussed the role of joint chambers in developing and promoting co-operation between Arab and foreign countries and in serving the business communities of both sides.

The joint chambers could play an active role in promoting Arab economic relations with foreign partner countries by creating a favourable climate, building a strong network of communications links and relations at the official and private sector levels.

As for their future activities, the annual meeting looked at the responses of the joint chambers towards the digital economy, the implementation of digital platforms by different joint chambers with the aim of creating a strong and reliable database that would bring benefits to the Arab business community.

The annual meeting discussed the participation of the Union of Arab Chambers in the Dubai Expo from March 28 to 30 through the ‘Joint Chambers Week’, with the aim of exchanging ideas and experiences between Arab and foreign parties and enhance communications between entrepreneurs from both sides.

The meeting discussed the participation of the Joint Arab Foreign Chambers in the 4th World Entrepreneurs Investment Forum (WEIF 2022), which is scheduled to be held in March at Expo Dubai. This event is being organised by the Union of Arab Chambers, in co-operation with the League of Arab States, the Union of Arab Banks, and the Arab Bank for Economic Development.

During their Egyptian visit, Mr Reda and Mr El-Idrissi met and held a series of talks with senior officials.

They were honoured to be received by H E Dr Nevine Gamea, Egypt’s Minister of Trade and Industry, with whom they engaged in discussions on BritishEgyptian trade and the role of the ABCC among other matters.

Mr Reda and Mr El-Idrissi paid a visit to the British University in Egypt (BUE) where they were greeted by Professor Mohamed Lotfi, BUE President, and other senior members of the university staff. The visit offered an opportunity to share ideas about developing the collaboration between the UK and Egypt in the field of higher education, where the potential for closer partnership was extensive.

The ABCC senior executives called on HMA Gareth Bayley OBE, Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Arab Republic of Egypt, at the British Embassy in Cairo, where they held a private discussion with the ambassador that covered the potential for strengthening business links between Egypt and the UK. Both sides expressed keenness to maintain close relations and hoped to work together in future to develop mutually beneficial UK-Egyptian cooperation.

Succession Planning for your UK Estate

The UK succession laws are very different from those in the Middle East. If you own UK assets, in particular property, you should obtain advice on the UK succession principles and put in place a UK Will (‘Wassiya’) to state who would manage your UK estate on death and who you want to inherit your assets.

You should also make use of any UK Inheritance Tax allowances available, such as spouse exemption. In the absence of a valid Will, the UK estate would be distributed under the UK laws as follows, if the deceased is non-UK domiciled at the time of death:

(a) UK real estate / immovable estate: this covers property: to be distributed following the UK Rules of Intestacy or the terms of your UK Will; and

(b) Moveable assets / financial: such as bank accounts, shares and investments: this will be inherited following the laws of the deceased’s country of domicile at the time of their death. If you are a

Muslim and your estate is governed by

Sharia law, then the UK moveable assets would be inherited per Sharia.

You should, therefore, arrange to have a UK Will drafted specifying your wishes. In your UK Will (Wassiya), you can specify:

• Appointing Executors

These are the individuals you nominate to manage the administration of your estate and fulfil the wishes you state in your Will. They can be the same as the named beneficiaries (heirs) and need to be over the age of 18. You can also appoint professional Executors if you feel your estate is complex, or if there could be a dispute between the beneficiaries named.

• Guardianship of your children

If you are living in the UK and have children under the age of 18, you can include your wish as to who to appoint as Guardians as your children. This is only relevant if both parents have, unfortunately, passed away. The Court would, however, determine what is in the best interests of the children.

• How to distribute your estate: Beneficiaries / Heirs

You will need to name who inherits your estate. This can often be structured in several ways:

1. A Flexible / Discretionary Will:

you name potential beneficiaries and you provide your Executors with a Letter of Wishes instructing them on how to distribute your estate. It is not legally binding and your Executors have absolute discretion to distribute the estate as they feel appropriate. This provides you with the flexibility to allow the Executors to attend to your beneficiaries and estate as appropriate.

2. Life Interest Trust Will: you can provide your spouse with a right to use of or the income for life, and nominate beneficiaries for the capital asset. This can present a UK Inheritance Tax spouse exemption if both husband and wife are sharing the same domicile status.

3. Sharia Compliant Will: your UK Will can be drafted to follow and respect the Sharia distributions principles, should you wish.

4. Outright / Simple Will: you can specify fixed shares and percentages in your Will for each named beneficiary.

Life Insurance Policy – if there is a UK Inheritance Tax Liability

If your UK estate is above £325,000, then there may be an Inheritance Tax liability, unless your estate benefits from tax exemptions and allowances. The IHT liability would need to be settled by the estate before the inheritance is passed to the beneficiaries stipulated in a UK Will. To assist with ensuring the estate has sufficient cash funds to settle the IHT, you may wish to consider taking out a whole of life insurance policy. This insurance policy guarantees that the insurer will pay out a lump sum to the nominated beneficiaries on death. The advantage of this is that you can ensure that the lump sum paid out covers the IHT bill in its entirety, or covers a substantial amount, which avoids the issue of selling assets and reducing the estate to pay the IHT tax bill. This type of policy must be written into trust as by doing this we can ensure that the lump sum payable falls outside of the estate. If the policy is not written into trust, then the lump sum will be paid for the benefit of the estate and a 40% inheritance tax charge will become due on the lump sum and thus revoking the benefits of taking out an insurance policy in the first instance. You should speak to an independent financial advisor for advice relating to such policies. It is, therefore, crucial to obtain advice to understand the UK tax and succession position on your UK estate and arrange for the most appropriate estate planning documents to be put in place.

Please do get in contact with Mamuna Farooq and we would be delighted to Economic Focus members a complimentary initial consultation to discuss your UK estate and tax planning further with you.

CONTACT

Mamuna Farooq

Partner, Head of Private Wealth and Tax & Head of Middle East Child & Child

mamunafarooq@childandchild.co.uk +44 (0)207 201 3579 / +44 (0)7983 584 083

I am a Partner, Head of Middle East and Private Wealth & Tax at Child & Child, a London law firm based in Belgravia. I am privileged to represent established families throughout the Middle East, the Gulf States, and beyond, looking after their UK and cross-border estates and providing a holistic service.