K-pop girl group Mamamoo will perform during the UAE-Korean Festival. Courtesy Rainbowbridge World
K-pop girl group Mamamoo will perform during the UAE-Korean Festival. Courtesy Rainbowbridge World
K-pop girl group Mamamoo will perform during the UAE-Korean Festival. Courtesy Rainbowbridge World
K-pop girl group Mamamoo will perform during the UAE-Korean Festival. Courtesy Rainbowbridge World

Music

Korea-UAE Festival: Mamamoo, Astro and more to perform online K-pop concert

The online-only event will run from March 21 to April 4 featuring trade shows and an online performance

Evelyn Lau
Evelyn Lau
Abu Dhabi

March 25, 2021

  • English
  • Arabic

Update: The K-pop Festival online concert has been postponed from April 2 to April 4 at 7pm, following the death of Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance.

After being vastly postponed last year, the UAE’s Ministry of Culture and Youth and South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism have announced the Korea-UAE Festival will return in 2021.

The three-day event will run entirely online and consist of two parts: The K-Content Festival, which aims to match buyers from the UAE with different Korean cultural content creators and the K-pop Festival, which will be an online concert.

The event is to run from March 31 to April 1 and on April 4.

The K-Content Festival, which takes place on March 31 and April 1, features Korean companies in the gaming, comics, VR and AR content sectors participating in virtual business meetings and consultations. It's only open to registered businesses.

However, the K-pop concert will be open to all. The event will feature K-pop acts such as NCT Dream, Mamamoo, Astro, Big, The Boyz and Aespa, as well as Emirati opera singer Fatima Al Hashmi, who will perform on a virtual stage. The gig can be streamed from the Korean Culture Centre's YouTube page on Sunday, April 4 at 7pm. The date has been postponed by two days because of the death of Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance.

In 2019, the two countries agreed to designate 2020 as the year of culture dialogue. As part of an agreement to strengthen cultural ties between the two countries, last year’s event was supposed to the mark the 40th anniversary of the established relationship between the two sides.

"Despite the difficulties caused by Covid-19, this event will create a future-oriented cultural community between the two countries and expand cultural exchanges across the Arab world," said Hwang Hee, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism for the Republic of Korea.

"Beyond the Hallyu, we will make it an opportunity for true ‘cultural convergence' between Korea and UAE."

WIDE%20VIEW
%3Cp%3EThe%20benefits%20of%20HoloLens%202%2C%20according%20to%20Microsoft%3A%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EManufacturing%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Reduces%20downtime%20and%20speeds%20up%20onboarding%20and%20upskilling%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngineering%20and%20construction%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Accelerates%20the%20pace%20of%20construction%20and%20mitigates%20risks%20earlier%20in%20the%20construction%20cycle%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EHealth%20care%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Enhances%20the%20delivery%20of%20patient%20treatment%20at%20the%20point%20of%20care%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEducation%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Improves%20student%20outcomes%20and%20teaches%20from%20anywhere%20with%20experiential%20learning%3C%2Fp%3E%0A

The Written World: How Literature Shaped History
Martin Puchner
Granta

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Music