Earlier this year, as this newspaper celebrated its 10th anniversary, I reflected on the changes the UAE capital has seen in the past decade. As part of the original team at The National, it's been part of my job to follow the city's hopes and aspirations, and in that time there's been a noticeable shift from a focus on potentiality to actuality. The intangible has become real and with that has come a transition from a somewhat dreamlike state to hard reality.
It’s mostly for the good. As we arrive at the city’s 10th Grand Prix weekend, it’s clear just how well that event has literally put Abu Dhabi on the map not just for those living here, but many around the world.
That relationship – of living in a place that is for most just a stopover, for some, days, for others, years – provides such a unique vantage point that it’s almost akin to travel even when you’re sat here, as a resident, contemplating another race weekend when colleagues and random acquaintances from home suddenly all pile in.
Yet even as you sense their excitement at the event, what has become clear with every year that’s gone by, is how fast Abu Dhabi has developed as a place; first in terms of infrastructure and second how it has benefited as a destination in its own right. There is now a functional local bus service and an established cruise-ship stop. Sports tourism is now just one plank of the city’s tourism offering and strategy; that was the whole point.
In the past 10 years, the city's landscape has matured into a much more comfortable place, with many more apartments, hotels, restaurants, malls, beaches and activities to choose from. Global businesses have set up alongside local ones and Abu Dhabi is exponentially more connected to the world in terms of airline routes and all the associated links. Next year, the futuristic new Midfield Terminal will open at Abu Dhabi International Airport and The National will itself be preparing for a move to Yas Island, where a brand-new media district is taking shape amid a maturing lifestyle destination. There has been so much development it's barely recognisable from one month to the next.
Personally, as someone who is getting ready to leave the UAE after all this time, it’s both sad and satisfying to be going at what feels like a moment of transition to a much bigger canvas. Abu Dhabi has become at once more global – some would say almost the definition of it – and more local, a place many more people are not only familiar with, but comfortable with. I regularly meet people abroad now who have not only heard of the UAE capital but have visited and even lived and worked here.
Back in 2008, one felt like an early adopter – possibly premature, even. Those arriving now have lifestyle choices that new residents could only have dreamed of back then, when there was such a shortage of apartments and hotel rooms that I spent two months at the Ramee Garden Hotel Apartments. When I arrived and asked staff where the breakfast was, reception laughed. Now, arriving colleagues easily snap up sparkling new studio apartments for reasonable prices.
Airport Road, now renamed again, was then known to taxi drivers as “Passport Road”, because a few blocks down was the “migration” office. Colleagues lived in a block of flats “backside petrol pump.” My attempts to use only Arabic in taxis didn’t go well. Now there is talk of Uber hiring Emirati drivers, that experience will be much more possible.
Those who are arriving now are lucky, as others have cleared a path that they may follow – and at a much faster pace.
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Read more:
On the move: why everyone should visit art galleries abroad
On the move: how to deal with an airline delay
On the move: when hotel lighting is a turn-off
Monster
Directed by: Anthony Mandler
Starring: Kelvin Harrison Jr., John David Washington
3/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
'Peninsula'
Stars: Gang Dong-won, Lee Jung-hyun, Lee Ra
Director: Yeon Sang-ho
Rating: 2/5
Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.
German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
- Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
- Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
- Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.5-litre supercharged V6
Power: 416hp at 7,000rpm
Torque: 410Nm at 3,500rpm
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Fuel consumption: 10.2 l/100km
Price: Dh375,000
On sale: now
Women’s T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier
ICC Academy, November 22-28
UAE fixtures
Nov 22, v Malaysia
Nov 23, v Hong Kong
Nov 25, v Bhutan
Nov 26, v Kuwait
Nov 28, v Nepal
ICC T20I rankings
14. Nepal
17. UAE
25. Hong Kong
34. Kuwait
35. Malaysia
44. Bhutan
UAE squad
Chaya Mughal (captain), Natasha Cherriath, Samaira Dharnidharka, Kavisha Egodage, Mahika Gaur, Priyanjali Jain, Suraksha Kotte, Vaishnave Mahesh, Judit Peter, Esha Rohit, Theertha Satish, Chamani Seneviratne, Khushi Sharma, Subha Venkataraman
Company%20Profile
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Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
FIXTURES
Fixtures for Round 15 (all times UAE)
Friday
Inter Milan v AS Roma (11.45pm)
Saturday
Atalanta v Verona (6pm)
Udinese v Napoli (9pm)
Lazio v Juventus (11.45pm)
Sunday
Lecce v Genoa (3.30pm)
Sassuolo v Cagliari (6pm)
SPAL v Brescia (6pm)
Torino v Fiorentina (6pm)
Sampdoria v Parma (9pm)
Bologna v AC Milan (11.45pm)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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More from Armen Sarkissian
The distance learning plan
Spring break will be from March 8 - 19
Public school pupils will undergo distance learning from March 22 - April 2. School hours will be 8.30am to 1.30pm
Staff will be trained in distance learning programmes from March 15 - 19
Teaching hours will be 8am to 2pm during distance learning
Pupils will return to school for normal lessons from April 5
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months