Donald Trump Jr, Dubai business partner discuss 'new ideas'

Dubai: Donald Trump Jr traveled to Dubai and met a billionaire business partner in the city-state, discussing "new ideas" as the Emirati's real estate firm still lists possible plans for future joint projects while Trump's father is in the White House. The Trump Organization 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 Emirati billionaire Hussain Sajwani.

His company has paid the Trump Organization's subsidiaries between USD 1 million to USD 5 million for the projects, according to a US Federal Election Committee report submitted in May. Sajwani's Instagram account posted a picture Tuesday night showing him with Trump, who now runs the Trump Organization 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 Organization. DAMAC mentioned the Trump Organization 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 Organization." It also listed plans for a "luxury boutique hotel to be operated by the Trump Organization" at DAMAC Hills, a massive development of villas and apartment buildings in Dubai's desert that surrounds the newly opened Trump golf course. Similar language had been included in previous regulatory filings by DAMAC, but its presence in documents after Trump's election suggests the real estate company is keeping its options open.

Days before becoming president, Trump had told journalists that DAMAC had offered the Trump Organization USD 2 billion in deals after his election, something DAMAC also confirmed. Meanwhile, a quarterly earnings filing Monday made by DAMAC's holding company listed a newly created subsidiary called Trump International Golf Club LLC, in which it described as holding a 100 per cent legal and economic interest. The UAE-based entity lists its principal activity as being the "golf club," without elaborating. The Trump Organization has no new deals in the works in Dubai, company spokeswoman Amanda Miller said yesterday. The company declined to answer other questions.