Milan, ITALY
08 April, 2017

An exceptional lifestyle and lavish 270-room Mondrian Doha hotel is set to open at the end of 2nd quarter of 2017. It will be SBE’s first hotel in the Middle East as well as Marcel Wanders’ first hotel for the region.

“What better place for us to reveal the exciting details of our forthcoming Mondrian Doha hotel than at the most prestigious design show known across the globe. It is an honour to be here today, introducing you to our magical hotel and celebrating our close partnership with Marcel Wanders and Mr Azrak of SWA,” addressing to a press conference in Milan, Italy, Michele Caniato, Chief Brand Officer for 'sbe', the leading privately-held lifestyle hospitality company, today revealed further details of the extraordinary design of Mondrian Doha. It was hosted by the group’s chief brand officer, Michele Caniato, in collaboration with Marcel Wanders and South West Architecture (SWA).

The preview of Mondrian Doha and it’s highly-anticipated design aptly took place during the world’s biggest design fair, Salone del Mobile being held in Milan from 4 - 9 April, 2017.

Present on the occasion were Marcel Wanders, renowned Dutch interior designer and Wadah Azrak, President of Qatar based architectural firm, SWA.

Wadah Azrak, President, South West Architecture, commented: “ This has been a significant project for SWA, and we are delighted to showcase our first hotel in Qatar. The building was conceived as a falcon, an important national symbol for Qatar, that sits atop its nest. We hope to see you soon in Doha and show you this incredible property.”

Marcel Wanders said “For the design of Mondrian Doha and everything we do, locale is super important. To create the hotel, we studied the city, we studied the people. We don’t create interiors, we create destinations and Mondrian Doha is a destination in itself that needs to be discovered. We invite people to join us on the journey through to the hotel, it is a journey that has no end. Stepping into Mondrian Doha begins the first chapter of a wonderful story that unfolds and presents surprises around every turn.”

Today announcement included eight restaurants and bars, dedicated nightclub zone, expansive ballroom and rooftop pool and bar, complete with stained glass dome. The rooftop pool and bar on the 26th and 27th floor is a truly remarkable space, created with black and white bricks and offering an abundance of natural light which shines through the stained glass dome to create rays of coloured light. Modern technology has allowed the pattern of a peony tiffany lamp to be printed on the skylight glass, making it the largest tiffany lamp in the world.

Under the colourful sky of the glass dome is the black and white city below; the pool area, which houses luxury wooden and crystal lamps, white leather seating and wooden sunbeds.

The magnificent ballroom, largest in the region is an elegant, transformable space that can be adapted to suit every occasion, from lavish weddings and award ceremonies to larger functions and presentations. Brides can enjoy the most glamourous of entrances with the use of an incredible 24 carat gold sculpted caged elevator which links the secret bridal suite directly to the ballroom.

According to the management, a fantasy-like environment, true to the Marcel Wanders design and the Mondrian ethos, is waiting to be explored by guests. Each day at Mondrian Doha will offer a new discovery and create a new memory – with enlightening scenes from the iconic lobby arrival through to the mesmerising stained glass dome skylight on the 27th floor.

Doha
08 Apeil 2017
(QNB Economic Commentary)

Qatar’s Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS) released GDP data for Q4 2016 last week.

Real GDP growth was 1.7% in Q4 and 2.2% for 2016 as a whole, moderating from annual growth of 3.6% in 2015. Going forward, we expect growth to pick up in 2017 driven by stronger non-hydrocarbon sector growth due to higher oil prices, an increase in capital spending and fading drag from manufacturing.

The hydrocarbon sector contracted by 1.0% in 2016. This was due to declines in both crude oil and natural gas production. Crude oil production, which accounts for around 15.0% of the hydrocarbon sector, fell by 0.7% in the year owing to maturing oil fields. Natural gas and related liquids production, the remaining 85.0% of the hydrocarbon sector, declined likely as a result of maintenance carried out on some of Qatar’s liquefied natural gas trains during the year.

Growth in the non-hydrocarbon sector was 5.6% in 2016. Construction was the largest contributor to growth, adding 2.3 percentage points (pps). Following construction, services such as finance (1.0 pps), government (0.8 pps) and real estate (0.6 pps) were the other key sectors supporting growth. Underpinning and driving growth in these sectors was robust population growth of 7.3% in 2016. These gains more than offset a contraction of 1.0% in manufacturing, the largest segment of Qatar’s non-hydrocarbon economy accounting for 20.0% of the sector. However, this decline is attributable entirely to lower output in Q2 2016 and appears to be a one-time occurrence.

We expect growth to pick up in 2017, led by the non-hydrocarbon sector. Supporting higher growth will be three key factors.

First, we expect oil prices to pick up and average between USD55/b and USD60/b in 2017, an increase of over 20.0% from the average level of USD45/b in 2016. In addition to boosting government revenues, higher oil prices will improve consumer and business sentiment, leading to faster job creation, more spending on durable and non-durable consumer goods and higher investment. Indeed, we have seen signs of that with the recovery in the fourth quarter of 2016, which bodes well for 2017.

Second, the government announced in its latest budget plans to raise capital spending by 3.2% in 2017. This was also accompanied by a commitment to increase the allocation to capital spending over the next three years, providing support to future growth. The increased allocations of capital spending will be on projects related to the upcoming World Cup, transportation, infrastructure, education and health. The government’s commitment is buttressed by its strong balance sheet.

Third, the drag from the manufacturing sector should fade in 2017. Manufacturing subtracted 0.2 pps in 2016 compared to adding an average of 0.6 pps to non-hydrocarbon growth over 2014-15. The sector has already begun to recover, posting positive growth in Q4 2016. A rebound in the sector will also be aided by the opening of a new refinery in Ras Laffan which began production in December 2016.

Despite low oil prices, the Qatari economy has continued to be resilient in the face of low oil prices. Qatar has enjoyed the strongest non-hydrocarbon GDP growth in the region throughout the oil price decline. Looking ahead, we expect growth to strengthen in 2017 and higher capital spending should support growth over the medium-term.

Note:

Disclaimer and Copyright Notice: QNB Group accepts no liability whatsoever for any direct or indirect losses arising from use of this report. Where an opinion is expressed, unless otherwise provided, it is that of the analyst or author only. Any investment decision should depend on the individual circumstances of the investor and be based on specifically engaged investment advice. The report is distributed on a complimentary basis. It may not be reproduced in whole or in part without permission from QNB Group.

Doha
5th April 2017

Doha Festival City,an entertainment, retail and hospitality destination in Qatar, managed and operated by Al-Futtaim, opened its doors to the public recently. Thousands of visitors flocked to the new Mall and participated in its glittering opening ceremony.

New mall in outskirts of Doha on North Highway is adjacent to IKEA Stores housing large store of UK's fame Marks & Spencer, first West Elm, Muji and flagship stores from H&M, Centerpoint, first VOX Cinemas in Qatar and as per the official statement the world’s largest Monoprix Hypermarket amongst many others.

Trevor Hill, General Manager of Doha Festival City Mall said “We currently have an extensive number of new-concept and first-to-market stores opened and are looking forward to many more over the coming weeks and months including Harvey Nichols, Mama’s & Papa’s, All Saints, Hanna Andersson and four unique theme parks. The first Angry Birds World globally, indoor snow park Snow Dunes, ‘edutainment’ park Juniverse and digital experience Virtuocity, will all be open by the end of the summer. We have also opened our purpose built Outdoor Leisure Trail, a 3km track designed with fun and fitness in mind –with this element free for our customers to enjoy.”

'Doha Festival City has partnered with twelve hotels across Doha to offer its guests complementary trips to and from the Mall, with shuttle services running throughout the day seven days a week' Hill told.

'As a ‘Smart Mall’, Doha Festival City has incorporated a number of innovative concepts that combines with unique technology, enhancing its visitors’ experience at every part of their journey within the destination. From digital wayfinding, smart car parking and free high-speed wifi to its extensive digital media network– every ‘Smart’ aspect has been considered throughout.'

Trevor Hill siad that After many months of anticipation, we are tremendously proud to finally welcome the public to our world-class destination and are already enjoying the positive feedback. We invite visitors to come and celebrate with us time and again, as we have a number of surprises in store at Doha Festival City to ensure ongoing one-of-a-kind experiences for all.”

Nick Batey, General Manager, Marks & Spencer Al-Futtaim, MENA said “As the biggest store opening for Marks & Spencer in Qatar this year, we are proud to be launching our world renowned chilled food for the first time in Qatar, as well as our table service M&S Café, which offers our customers a more leisurely experience. After much anticipation M&S in Doha Festival City has received a very positive reaction from our first customers today.”

Lapu-Lapu City (Philipines)
07 April 2017 (PNA)

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said here on Thursday night that the 10 member-economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are on the right track in harmonizing their policies that will further lay the groundwork for a strong regional economy as the world enters what he called the “Southeast Asian century.”

“With the framework for cooperation provided by the ASEAN and the vision of an economic community in the near future, we have been able to tap the synergy of regionalism to each country’s benefit," Dominguez said in his dinner toast to the successes achieved by the founding members and present movers of ASEAN, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

ASEAN is marking the milestone this year with the Philippines, one of its founding members, as chair.

"The future bodes well for this region as we harness our talents and our good will to advance the region’s interests,” said Dominguez.

“This century, they say, is Asia’s century. From where we stand, it will be more specifically a Southeast Asian century: the time we will see this region flourish to its full potential,” Dominguez said.

He delivered the toast at the gala dinner he hosted for the ASEAN finance ministers, central bank governors, finance and central bank deputies and delegates and representatives of ASEAN’s multilateral partner-institutions at the Shangri-La Mactan Resort.

“When the founding fathers of the ASEAN came together fifty years ago, I bet they did not imagine the extent of regional integration we have achieved today,” he said.

He proposed his toast “first to our forebears who dared imagine a regional community when there was nary a hint of it and, and second, to all of us who work hard today to make that regional community real.”

Dominguez recalled that “Five decades ago, Southeast Asia was a backwater region composed of newly independent nations. "

"The region was divided along Cold War lines," he said. "We had very little trade between us, and much less investments across our borders. The old lines of colonial jurisdiction made us strangers to each other and each nation traded more with their former colonial masters.”

He said that, “Today is a much different time. Southeast Asia is an important node of growth for the global economy. Within the framework of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), we have increased intra-regional trade. "

"We are well in the process of harmonizing our policies to further lay the groundwork for a regional economic community. We are, quite literally, building the infrastructure that will bring our economies closer together,” Dominguez said.

Manila
07 April 2017

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte will be embarking on a state visit to three countries in the Middle East including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom of Bahrain and the State of Qatar.

In a press briefing in Malacañang today Friday, April 7, Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Hjayceelyn Quintana said the President will be meeting with the heads of state of the three countries during his week-long trip from April 10 to 16.

"The President's trip to the Middle East, whose objectives may be summarized by the words 'people, progress and partnerships,' aims to strengthen efforts for the protection of the rights and promotion of the welfare of the more than 1 million of our people working in those three countries, invite investors to the Philippines and usher in progress here at home, and to forge stronger partnerships by elevating our political and economic cooperation with these countries to new heights,” said Quintana, who heads the Office of Middle East and African Affairs.

She said despite economic challenges being faced by Gulf States, Middle East remains an important region for the Philippines to expand economic and political ties.

She noted that Middle East continues to be the destination of choice of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) with six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) included in the top 10 destinations in 2015.

Middle East is the second largest source of remittances with 28 percent or almost USD 7.6 billion remitted from the region in 2016, according to Quintana.

The President will first visit Riyadh from April 10-12 where he will meet with His Majesty King Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud, said Quintana.

Duterte will proceed to Manama, Bahrain from April 12-14 where he is scheduled to meet with His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

The final leg of his trip will be in Doha from April 14-16 where he is slated to meet with the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.

"He will discuss with these leaders matters relevant to the welfare and dignity of the Filipinos living in their countries as well as explore avenues for economic and political cooperation," Quintana said.

The President is expected to witness the signing of several agreements on labor, agriculture, air services, culture, health and political bilateral consultations.

In terms of economic cooperation, she said the President is expected to explore partnerships in tourism development, halal food security, Islamic finance and energy security while in political cooperation, the President is keen on seeking partnerships in security, countering terrorism and combating illicit drugs.

"He will also invite these countries to invest particularly in Mindanao as a way of lifting Mindanao out of both poverty and conflict," she added.

While in Middle East, the President will also meet with the Filipino communities.

"The President hopes that through the stronger partnerships he will forge during this visit, he can tap into the over 500 billion US dollars combined investment capital of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the State of Qatar and bring home more investments and jobs for our people," she said.

Doha
06 April 2017 (QNA)

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs, Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud, on Thursday inaugurated the Second Edition of the three-day Procurement and Contracting Conference & Exhibition, 'MOUSHTARAYAT 2017' held at the Doha Convention and Exhibition Center.

AlMahmoud honored five companies who won the First Edition of the 'National Purchasing Award' launched for the first time in appreciation of the role being played by government and semi-government agencies in supporting Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and providing them with the opportunity to showcase their services and products.

Finance Minister Ali Shareef Al Emadi in his opening speech said entities under the Tenders and Auction Law have spent QAR 39 billion over the past nine months on public projects, which have been awarded to private companies and institutions, including Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), according to the results of initiatives launched by the State and contracts concluded during the past year, he was addressing on the occasion of 2nd edition of the Contracting Conference & Exhibition 'MOUSHTARAYAT 2017.

Al Emadi said the Government has taken several initiatives to establish an appropriate environment for expanding SMEs' contribution to infrastructure, services and public utilities as part of its strategy to encourage and increase the participation of the private sector in the public economic development plan at all levels.

The event is an important opportunity to support communication between ministries, government agencies and private sector companies, including SMEs, to exchange views on cooperation between the public and private sectors in providing a competitive environment for business and to learn about successful experiences in this field, Al Emadi said.

Qatar is moving towards supporting economic activities in non-oil sectors while enhancing the private sector's role in implementing a wide range of development projects, he added. He stressed Qatar's keenness through issuing the new Tenders and Auctions Law in order to enhance competition's opportunities, transparency and efficiency in contracting procedures concluded by the government agencies.

The current stage of the development of the Qatari economy is witnessing a significant momentum in the implementation of development projects, which clearly shows the continued increase in allocations of major projects in the Public State Budget generating further opportunities for cooperation between the public and private sectors in the implementation of these projects and increasing the role of the private sector in the process of development, the Finance Minister went on saying.

Abdulaziz bin Nasser Al-Khalifa, CEO, Qatar Development Bank (QDB) in his speech said 'MOUSHTARAYAT 2017' aims at spreading a culture of cooperation among exhibitors from the government and semi-government sectors, private companies as well as SMEs, that face great difficulties in accessing bid opportunities.

He told that an increase in number of exhibitors this year from 25 to 30 offering at least 2000 opportunities worth more than QAR 2,500,000,000 compared to 450 opportunities only last year amounting to QAR 3,000,000,000.

This increase is an evidence of the great interest of exhibitors, he said, stressing that the increase of the number of less value opportunities would enable SMEs to easy access to them.

04 Apr 2017 (CNN)
By Christopher Green

US President Donald Trump has sent Xi Jinping a clear message before the two meet in Florida later this week.

With all his customary bluster, Trump told the Financial Times that China "will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won't," and if Beijing decides not to, "it won't be good for anyone."

This is standard Trump: an aggressive opening salvo designed to give the US a competitive advantage over Xi Jinping. Faced with a fuzzily-worded ultimatum, the Chinese leader will be on the back foot when the two come face-to-face at Mar-a-Lago.

Certainly, there is a world in which this is a diplomatic masterstroke. In that world, the leader of the US declares that he is ready to take unilateral action against North Korea -- which may include imposing secondary sanctions on Chinese banks and other companies suspected of aiding North Korea.

Accordingly, Xi Jinping concludes that China's main policy goal of ensuring stability along its borders is best served by "helping with" North Korea, which means that Beijing comes down harder on the regime in Pyongyang than it has ever done before.

Thereafter, all the actors in Northeast Asia fall into lockstep against the Kim Jong Un regime, which buckles under the pressure and returns to the negotiating table.

However, that is probably not the world in which we live. North Korea is not the kind of problem that can be resolved unilaterally, no matter how much Donald Trump might wish it were, which leaves his aggressive rhetoric sounding a little empty.

The US President has fired a warning shot that Beijing won't feel obliged to heed for the simple reason that it isn't terribly credible, not to mention that his lack of clarity will have sent shivers down the spine of the Korean peninsula.

Trump is right that progress on the North Korea question requires the active cooperation of China. To that extent, he has selected the right target. However, North Korea is not a standalone problem; it is one piece of a much bigger geostrategic jigsaw.

There are several pending diplomatic pressure points between the US and China, all the way from Korea to Taiwan and onward to the South China Sea.

China is not about to act bilaterally on the Korea question without a quid pro quo elsewhere. Unless Washington is ready to end its support for Taiwan, say, or cede control of the high seas west of the Philippines -- a truly historic "grand bargain" that would destabilize the region.

South Korea can ill afford to hear this kind of talk. Next month's presidential election seems set to bring a liberal back to power for the first time in 10 years.
No doubt the country would like a US administration that, though inevitably unenthusiastic about engagement with Pyongyang, would at least not actively hamper Seoul's attempts to jaw-jaw.
Instead, Seoul will be worried that Washington and Beijing might be about to go over its head. This is destabilizing.

This same sense of existential angst is only going to encourage North Korea -- a master at playing in the interstitial space between Great Powers -- to conduct another nuclear test, its sixth.

North Korea will likely conduct a sixth nuclear test no matter what the Trump administration says or does. The door to denuclearization closed many years ago. To that extent, antagonizing the Kim regime is neither here nor there. But it is only worth doing that with a clear and moreover achievable goal in mind. Not for the first time, Trump has neither.

(Christopher Green is a researcher at Universiteit Leiden in the Netherlands and one of the senior editors of Sino-NK, a digital periodical dealing with Northeast Asian affairs. The opinions in this article belong to the author)

Doha
04 April 2017
(QDB)

In its drive to promote Qatari products across local, regional and global markets, Qatar Development Bank (QDB), through the support of its export program, Tasdeer, participated along with 29 leading Qatari companies at Big 5 Saudi, an exhibition for operators in the construction industry.

The expo was held at Jeddah Center for Forum and Events from 27 – 30 March 2017.

The latest participation of Tasdeer comes against the backdrop of a series of initiatives the development agency has undertaken to support the entry of Qatari small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across regional and global markets. Through its involvement in Big 5 Saudi, QDB aims to facilitate the entry of local companies specializing in the construction industry – including manufacturers of construction equipment, technology, machinery, materials as well as product suppliers – in the largest market in the region.

QDB’s pavilion in Big 5 included the following shortlisted 29 Qatari companies: Advanced Pipes & Casts Company, Al Farraj Trading & Manufacturing Company, Al Jattal Industry, Al-Sada Factory for Plastic Pipes, Albayan for Electronics and LED Technologies, Doha Plastic, National Paints Factories, Qatar Aluminium Extrusion Co., Qatar German Pipes Company W.L.L., Qatar International Cables Company, Qatar Paving Stones, Qatar Plastic Products Company, Qatar Wire Products, Qatari Canadian for Energy and Electrical Industries, Qatari Saudi Gypsum Co., Sarplast Qatar, Seashore Steel, Uniplast Factory, Bumatar German Factory for Plastic Products, Doha Factory for Paints & Chemicals, Al Muftah Fiber glass Products, Khaled Manufacturing Co., Jersey Glass, Al Bateel Interior, Qatar National Aluminum Panel, G-walls, Elan Signage, Qatar UPVC for Windows and Doors, and Qatar Wooden Products Co.

Commenting on the latest exhibition, Executive Director for Tasdeer, Hassan Khalifa Al-Mansoori said "At QDB, we are delighted to partake in the regional Big 5 exhibition series for the third time. This expo holds particular importance for our local companies as it is considered to be amongst the most important construction sector exhibitions.'

'In the past, Qatari companies have achieved significant success in this diverse sector within Qatar, and we believe that the time is ripe to launch and expand their success story into foreign markets."

He said "The Saudi market is the premier destination for Qatari products as it is the most important regional market. Furthermore, the culture of both countries and architectural styles are similar, which allows Qatari companies a natural advantage in acquiring important deals in the Saudi Arabian construction sector."

The Big 5 exhibition series, held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) this year, is amongst the most important events in the construction and building materials sector in the region. It brings together five separate product-focused events under one roof, and the Big 5 network today includes more than 300,000 suppliers and buyers from 120 countries around the world.

The expo hosts national pavilions representing all major exporting countries of the world, and draws the attention of major developers, contractors, suppliers and distributors from both the eastern and western hemispheres of the globe. The exhibition’s success has given rise to various national chapters of the same series, making the Big 5 a global name with editions in Egypt, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates.

Furthermore, the scope of the event has broadened to now include the following exhibition portfolios: concrete, PMV, stone, HCAV, solar, glass and facilities management sectors.

The development agency’s participation in Big 5 Saudi comes as the latest in a series of activities undertaken to consolidate Qatar-KSA economic partnership. To this end, last year in September, QDB held an ‘Exporting to Saudi Arabia’ workshop, and in August, welcomed a delegation of officials from the Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF) at its headquarters to promote cross-trade opportunities, exchange experiences and broaden existing cooperation.

Upcoming Tasdeer events include the PlastExpo, one of the leading international exhibitions in the plastics and packaging industry, scheduled to be held in Casablanca, Morocco, from April 5 to 8, 2017.

The scope and breadth of Tasdeer was recently recognized on the international stage when International Trade Center (ITC), a joint agency of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), recently nominated QDB for the 2016 Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) Award, under the category of the best development agency in a developing country.

Incidentally, QDB was the sole development agency shortlisted from amongst the countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Other nominated development agencies, under the same category, included Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Jamaica and South Korea.

31 March 2017
IHS Jane's Defence Weekly

Turkish prime minister Binali Yildirim has announced that Operation 'Euphrates Shield' in Syria has come to an end.

"If a threat comes, Turkey can initiate more cross border operations but under a different name," he said in an interview with Turkey's NTV news channel on 29 March. He did not say whether Turkish forces would remain in Syria or be withdrawn.

"Thanks to the Euphrates Shield, we have secured an area of 2,015 km2 by capturing Al-Bab. [The Turkish-backed] Free Syrian Army has been settled there. Syrians in Turkey have returned and life has returned to normal," he added.

Shortly before Yildirim's remarks, Turkey's National Security Council announced the "successful completion" of Operation 'Euphrates Shield'.

Turkey has never said how many soldiers it has deployed to Syria but its forces have suffered about 70 fatalities in the operation, which began on 24 August 2016. Its stated aims were to clear Islamic State militants from the Turkish border and prevent the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) from linking its forces in northeast Syria with those in the Afrin region in the northwest of Aleppo province.

Ankara also indicated that it wanted Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels to play a prominent role in taking the city of Al-Raqqah, the Islamic State's 'capital', and opposed any involvement by the YPG, which it considered to be a terrorist group due to its links to the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK). The YPG is also the dominant element in the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

While the Turks and their allies secured Al-Bab in February after heavy fighting, their southwards advance towards Al-Raqqah was blocked by Syrian government forces advancing eastwards to the line held by SDF forces west of Manbij.

Turkish officials then threatened to attack Manbij if the YPG refused to withdraw, prompting the United States and Russia to deploy troops to the front in an apparent effort to deter escalation.

02 April 2017
(AFP)

President Donald Trump of United States of America warned in an interview published Sunday that the United States is prepared to act unilaterally to deal with North Korea's nuclear program if China proves unwilling to help.

“Well, if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you,” he said in an interview with the Financial Times of London.

Trump's comments come ahead of his meeting Thursday and Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the US president's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Tensions have risen sharply as North Korea has stepped up ballistic missile tests and amid boasts by leader Kim Jong-un that his country was in the final stages of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile.

US-based analysts have warned that North Korea appears to be preparing a new nuclear test. It has staged five nuclear tests so far, two last year.

"China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won’t," Trump told the Financial Times. “If they do, that will be very good for China, and if they don’t, it won’t be good for anyone."

In a separate interview, US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the United States is looking to China to take action against North Korea.

"The only country that can stop North Korea is China and they know that," Haley told ABC's "This Week" in an interview broadcast on Sunday. "We're going to continue to put pressure on China to have action."

The Mar-a-Lago meeting will be the two leaders' first face-to-face encounter.

On Thursday, Trump predicted a "very difficult" summit with Xi, noting the disputes over trade policy between the world's two most powerful nations and leading economies.

But Haley emphasized that at the Florida meeting "the most important conversation will be how we're going to be dealing with the nonproliferation of North Korea."

Beijing, increasingly frustrated with Pyongyang's nuclear and missile activities, has announced a suspension of all coal imports from the North until the end of the year.

Haley deemed that measure -- which was in keeping with UN sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear program and missile program -- insufficient, saying that coal is "going in other ways."

"At some point, we need to see definitive actions by China condemning North Korea and not just calling them out for it," she said.

Since taking office, Trump has left open the possibility of military action against North Korea.

Following that country's early March missile tests, which came provocatively close to Japan, the US leader emphasized his administration's commitment to "deter and defend against North Korea's ballistic missiles using the full range of United States military capabilities."

Former US defense secretary Ash Carter, who served under Barack Obama, said the US has "always had all options on the table."

Also speaking on ABC, he recalled that the United States drew up a "preemptive strike plan" in 1994 to knock out North Korea's Yongbyon reactor, during a confrontation over its nuclear program.

"We have those options," he said. "We shouldn't take them off the table." But he said a US strike on North Korea would likely trigger a North Korean attempt to invade South Korea.

"This is a war that would have an intensity of violence associated with it that we haven't seen since the last Korean War," he said. "Seoul is right there on the borders of the DMZ, so even though the outcome is certain, it is a very destructive war. And so one needs to proceed very carefully here."

He said Washington should continue to pressure China to lean on North Korea, but he was not optimistic that would lead to anything.

Beijing fears a potential North Korean collapse, which would result in "a unified Korea allied with the United States on their border," Carter said.