BANGKOK — On the day the United Arab Emirates announced it had signed to host the world’s finance ministers in 2029, a tugboat off its east coast was reported hit by two unknown projectiles. Nothing links the two events. They share a date and a country.
The agreement brings the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to Abu Dhabi in October 2029, the first time they have been held in the Emirates since Dubai hosted them in 2003. Mohamed bin Hadi Al Hussaini, the UAE’s minister of state for financial affairs, and central bank governor Khaled Balama signed in Bangkok alongside World Bank president Ajay Banga and IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva, the UAE Ministry of Finance said in a statement on Sunday. The host is a Gulf state that has itself urged Arab governments to open a direct channel with Iran.
Al Hussaini said the signing reflected “confidence in the UAE’s readiness, the efficiency of its infrastructure and financial system, and its ability to host major international events of strategic importance.” The National reported on Saturday that Iran has launched missiles and drones at Gulf states, and that attacks on shipping have continued since a US-Iran agreement was signed in June.
The tug was heading south when two unknown projectiles hit it northeast of Khor Fakkan on Sunday, the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said, Anadolu Agency reported. “One minor casualty has been reported,” the agency said. The vessel was damaged but kept going. Anadolu said the exact time of the incident had yet to be confirmed, and its report named no party responsible.
The meetings draw more than 10,000 in-person and virtual attendees from over 190 countries, The National reported. Banga called Abu Dhabi “a fitting host” for meetings focused on “development impact.” Georgieva said the UAE “has become an important hub for ideas, finance, innovation and international co-operation.”
The IMF and World Bank governors chose Abu Dhabi by vote in April, according to the IMF’s release, with the meetings set for October 2029, three years away. Earlier this month the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed that an oil tanker hit a mine in the Strait of Hormuz, an account that was not independently verified.
Saudi Arabia, next door, is still absorbing the Riyadh airport attack of October 10, in which its civil aviation authority said at least 12 people were killed.
None of the statements reviewed says what the 2029 security plan assumes about the war, what the event will cost or where in Abu Dhabi the delegates will sit. The tug, for its part, is still waiting for someone to say who hit it.
