Mira Singh to offer 'outstanding' performance for Expo 2020 Dubai closing ceremony

Mira Singh, the young star of the Expo 2020 Dubai opening ceremony who became a celebrity overnight, will return to the same stage at Al Wasl Dome for the closing ceremony on Thursday.

Mira, who was born in Dubai to an Indian father and Belarusian mother, told The National earlier that her life changed after her starring role in the 90-minute opening event on September 30.

While details of the closing ceremony have been kept tightly under wraps, the Expo 2020 social media have shared teaser posters featuring Mira, promising a "spectacular" event.

"See global music icons, enjoy dazzling fireworks, and exciting performances unfold beneath the stunning Al Wasl Dome," Expo 2020's Instagram account posted on Sunday.

Speaking to The National, Mira's father, Jitendra Pal Singh, says the closing ceremony will be bigger and better than the opening show.

"Her performance will again be outstanding, I am sure," he says, proudly.

Singh says Mira, who turned 12 earlier this month, was changed by the experience in September.

"It’s really a once-in-a-lifetime thing. It was really quite an experience for her. She looks at the world in a different way now and she has become more confident."

Mira, who has been modelling since she was 6, saw her popularity spike after the opening ceremony. In the show, she played a young girl who is handed a golden ring — the inspiration for the Expo 2020 Dubai logo — and whose journey kickstarts the Expo story. She also danced on stage and guided Grammy-winning Italian singer Andrea Bocelli, who is blind, to the stage for the evening’s final performance.

Besides Bocelli, the ceremony also featured performances by British pop star Ellie Goulding, American singer Andra Day, Saudi superstar Mohammed Abdu, Emirati sensation Ahlam AlShamsi, Beninese singer Angelique Kidjo and Chinese pianist Lang Lang.

Mira's Instagram account, which had a little more than 1,000 followers before the show, now boasts more than 14,000.

“I am speechless. My life has changed a lot since the opening ceremony,” she told The National a few days after the ceremony. “I didn’t think it would be so big and the fame would be like ‘wow’.

“I’ve been receiving a lot of offers, projects and commercials."

Mira said there were “thousands of girls” at the audition held in August, who were then whittled down to a final three, before she was selected. The younger of two children, she is also trained in the Indian classical dance form Bharatanatyam, and takes ballet and piano lessons weekly.

She has since returned to Expo 2020 a few times. In October, she visited the Belarus Pavilion as a special guest.

After the closing ceremony, it will be back to school and an already busy roster of modelling assignments, her father says. But it will be up to Mira, who is an aspiring singer and actress, what she eventually makes of her success, says Singh.

"We don't really plan. We take each day as it comes.

"I will be supporting her in everything that she wants to do. Tomorrow, if she wants to leave all of this, it's up to her. There is absolutely no pressure from us."

Organisers on Monday said festivities for the closing ceremony are set to begin at 7pm "with the young girl from the opening ceremony in September taking the audience on another compelling journey".

"For 182 days, she has grown, learned and connected with people from around the world — what remains is the final step before she awakens to her full potential," Expo event organisers said.

The one-hour ceremony will have an Emirati soul that would touch on a global experience, the organisers said.

Global music stars including US artists Christina Aguilera and Norah Jones as well as American cellist Yo-Yo Ma will lead the line-up of performers at the ceremony, before the world's fair baton is passed from Dubai to Expo 2025 Osaka.

Visitor numbers at the attraction are already soaring during the final week, with organisers saying it's been the busiest period since opening six months ago. Gates will shut at 3am on Friday after the closing ceremony late on Thursday.

Last week, the number of visits inched close to the 21 million mark, with 1.8 million visits registered in the previous seven days, as tourists and residents line up to be part of the largest global gathering since the start of the pandemic. A final tally of the number of visits will be released on April 1.

Scroll through the gallery below for images from the spectacular opening ceremony of Expo 2020 Dubai:

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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.”

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