King Tutankhamun’s treasures have been placed in 65 per cent of their display cases in the Grand Egyptian Museum, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said.
When the huge museum near the Giza Pyramids opens this year, it will house the boy king’s entire collection of more than 5,300 artefacts for the first time since his tomb was discovered in Luxor nearly 100 years ago.
Only 200 of pharaoh's artefacts have not yet been transferred , said Al Tayeb Abbas, assistant minister of tourism and antiquities at the Grand Egyptian Museum.
The treasures, expected to be the museum’s star attraction, will be in a hall covering 7,500 square metres.
The 107 display cases from Germany and Italy have been installed in their permanent places in the two Tutankhamun galleries, the ministry said.
The Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Khaled El Enany, visited the museum on Monday.
Installation of artefacts in the atrium and the grand staircase has also been completed and fine restoration of the pieces is taking place.
Mr El Enany thanked the museum staff for their efforts to finish the project this year, and said the King Tutankhamun hall will rival displays at the world’s largest and best museums.
When the Grand Egyptian Museum is completed at a cost of about $1 billion, it will have room to display 100,000 artefacts.
The 60,000-square-metre building has been built on a plot of nearly 500,000 square metres, about two kilometres from the Giza Pyramids plateau.
It has been in the works since a worldwide architectural competition was announced in 2002.
But completion has had several delays because of political and economic instability after the 2011 revolution, and travel and tourism challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The ministry has been reluctant to announce a definite opening date, as it hopes to inaugurate the museum with a grand celebration and invite dignitaries from all over the world.
King Tutankhamun and his mask have become the symbols of ancient Egypt. Maybe a lot of people don't know anything about Egypt, but they will know King Tutankhamun,
So far, 55,000 artefacts have been transferred and are being restored in the conservation centre.
They cover thousands of years from prehistoric times to Egypt’s pharaonic civilisation, to its ancient Greek and Roman periods.
The first artefact to be installed in the museum in January 2018 was the 83-tonne, 3,200-year-old statue of Ramses the Great.
The atrium was built around the statue, which stands more than 20 metres high.
The third and fourth shrines of Tutankhamun are among the treasures that have been installed.
Many of the treasures are still at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, including the famous golden death mask that was entombed in Luxor’s Valley of the Kings and has since toured the world.
British archaeologist Howard Carter became world famous when he discovered the intact tomb of the 18th dynasty pharaoh in 1922.
“Mummy mania started with the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun because it was the only tomb of a royal king that was found sealed with all of its objects,” said Sahar Saleem, the radiologist who conducted the CT scan of King Tutankhamun’s mummy in 2005.
Tutankhamun died at 18 or 19, with the cause of death still debated by Egyptologists. His reign lasted only nine years.
About 150 of Tutankhamun’s treasures went on their last world tour in 2018 before returning to Egypt.
“King Tutankhamun and his mask have become the symbols of ancient Egypt," Ms Saleem said.
"Maybe a lot of people don’t know anything about Egypt but they will know King Tutankhamun."
After the Pharaohs Golden Parade in April, which transferred 22 royal mummies to the Egyptian Museum of National Civilisation, Mr El Enany said another procession would be held to move Tutankhamun’s golden mask and sarcophagus to the Grand Egyptian Museum.
But those plans have not been confirmed.
As for Tutankhamun's mummy, Egypt's former antiquities chief Zahi Hawass told CNN in August 2020: “The people of Luxor think that their grandfather should stay there.
"And I really do respect this. The mummy will stay there.”
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Name: Back to Games and Boardgame Space
Started: Back to Games (2015); Boardgame Space (Mark Azzam became co-founder in 2017)
Founder: Back to Games (Mr Azzam); Boardgame Space (Mr Azzam and Feras Al Bastaki)
Based: Dubai and Abu Dhabi
Industry: Back to Games (retail); Boardgame Space (wholesale and distribution)
Funding: Back to Games: self-funded by Mr Azzam with Dh1.3 million; Mr Azzam invested Dh250,000 in Boardgame Space
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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.”
TOURNAMENT INFO
Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier
Jul 3- 14, in the Netherlands
The top two teams will qualify to play at the World T20 in the West Indies in November
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (captain), Chamani Seneviratne, Subha Srinivasan, Neha Sharma, Kavisha Kumari, Judit Cleetus, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Heena Hotchandani, Namita D’Souza, Ishani Senevirathne, Esha Oza, Nisha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi
Types of fraud
Phishing: Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
Smishing: The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
Vishing: The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
SIM swap: Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
Identity theft: Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
Prize scams: Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
* Nada El Sawy
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Company profile
Company: Verity
Date started: May 2021
Founders: Kamal Al-Samarrai, Dina Shoman and Omar Al Sharif
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Size: four team members
Stage: Intially bootstrapped but recently closed its first pre-seed round of $800,000
Investors: Wamda, VentureSouq, Beyond Capital and regional angel investors
What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
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- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
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The years Ramadan fell in May
Married Malala
Malala Yousafzai is enjoying married life, her father said.
The 24-year-old married Pakistan cricket executive Asser Malik last year in a small ceremony in the UK.
Ziauddin Yousafzai told The National his daughter was ‘very happy’ with her husband.
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
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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
