Expo 2020 Dubai has launched the Menasa – Emirati Design Platform as part of its Design and Crafts Programme. It features more than 40 local and international designers who will present their works as part of a curated collection at the event, which takes place from October to March.
The programme will comprise seven design collaborations between designers as part of its Craft Stories section. Designers and artisans, hailing from 11 countries such as Spain, Lebanon, Brazil and India, will explore traditional Emirati crafts and traditions, while adding contemporary elements to present them in a new way.
The platform will also feature a Designer of the Week, showcasing a total of 24 artists and concepts from the UAE.
Expo 2020 Dubai’s Design and Crafts Programme is overseen by design and crafts director Samer Yamani, who has also curated the Menasa platform. Yamani is the founder of Creative Dialogue, a consultancy and creative agency out of Barcelona.
He explains Menasa’s aim is to present Emirati culture through its long-standing traditions, rooted in the use of natural materials and local methods. “Crafts have a special, innate power to communicate a local culture, a nation and its identity. Giving this power a poetic approach, we used Emirati crafts as a communication tool and merged it with design, new technologies and materials to convey more local stories and to intensify the experience for our visitors through our exclusive design collections."
Expo 2020 Dubai is an ideal opportunity for the world to see how the UAE craft and design sector continues to grow and diversify
Lisa Ball-Lechgar,
Tashkeel’s deputy director
Locally, the platform has collaborated with Al Ghadeer UAE Crafts, Alia Bin Omair, Ammar Kalo, Bil Arabi, Irthi Contemporary Crafts Council, Khalid Shafar, and Tashkeel, all in the UAE. Its list of international brands include BD Barcelona Design from Spain, Estudio Campana from Brazil, Iwan Maktabi and Nicolas Jebran from Lebanon, and Klove Studio from India.
Among the designs that will be on display is an incense holder, East to West, by Hamza Al Omari. It features a delicate, minimalist design that comes in rose gold, stainless steel and electric blue.
Born in 1990, the Jordanian-Canadian designer won the Van Cleef & Arpels Middle East Emergent Designer Prize in 2017. His involvement with Menasa comes through Tashkeel, of which he is alumni of the organisation’s Tanween design programme from 2017.
Tashkeel is currently working with Expo 2020 Dubai for its Menasa platform, as well as other projects. The organisation, whose main art centre is located in Nad Al Sheba, has been promoting local design through its programming for years, training 26 designers and prototyping 39 products in the span of 10 years.
“Over the last decade, our commitment to embedding Emirati craft and identity within a contemporary UAE design aesthetic has grown,” Lisa Ball-Lechgar, Tashkeel’s deputy director, said.
Speaking on the Expo 2020 Dubai partnership, she said the World Expo event is “an ideal opportunity for the world to see how the UAE craft and design sector continues to grow and diversify, using a contemporary voice and a distinctive design vernacular infused by the customs and traditions of this country”.
Menasa – Emirati Design Platform will also include screenings of documentaries from the UAE that delve into the country’s craft traditions – from palm frond-weaving, talli embroidery and sadu or Bedouin weaving, to the design of gargour or fish traps.
More information available at expo2020dubai.com
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Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
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Fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed more than 14,000 people. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kiev of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it in full would hurt Ukraine.
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