Trump Jr, Sajwani discuss ‘new ideas’
dubai — Donald Trump Jr travelled to Dubai and met a billionaire business partner, discussing “new ideas” as the UAE real estate firm still lists possible plans for future joint projects while Trump’s father is in the White House.
The Trump Organisation has said it won’t make new foreign deals while Donald Trump serves as America’s 45th president. That didn’t affect the Trump International Golf Club in Dubai’s opening in February, while a previously planned Trump-branded golf course designed by Tiger Woods is still being built nearby.
Both projects are being built by Dubai’s Damac Properties, owned by billionaire Hussain Sajwani. His company has paid the Trump Organisation’s subsidiaries between $1 million to $5 million for the projects, according to a US Federal Election Committee report submitted in May 2016.
Sajwani’s Instagram account posted a picture on Tuesday night showing him with Trump, who now runs the Trump Organisation with his brother Eric, at a table covered in a spread of Middle Eastern food and a plate of French fries.
“It was great having my dear friend and business partner Donald Trump Jr over for lunch,” a caption with the photo read. “Discussing new ideas and innovation always make our meetings even more interesting.”
Damac did not respond to a request for comment about the meeting. However, recent regulatory filings made by the company suggest possible future plans with the Trump Organisation.
Damac mentioned the Trump Organisation in a prospectus for a sukuk, a type of Islamic bond, launched in April on the Nasdaq Dubai exchange. That filing noted Damac’s “product expansion also includes branding arrangements with... the Trump Organisation.” It also listed plans for a “luxury boutique hotel to be operated by the
When I look back on what my father did in this past election, and the risk he took, to me I’m far more impressed with the fact that he tried than by the fact he actually won Donald Trump Jr
Trump Organisation” at Damac Hills, a massive development of villas and apartment buildings in Dubai’s desert that surrounds the newly opened Trump golf course.
While in Dubai, Trump also gave a commencement speech on Sunday at the American University in Dubai, a private university founded in 1995 that has some 2,700 students. The university did not announce Trump would be making a commencement speech on its website ahead of time.
“When I look back on what my father did in this past election, and the risk he took, to me I’m far more impressed with the fact that he tried than by the fact he actually won,” Trump said in the 14-minute speech. — AP