Spectacular fireworks and entertainment welcome the world to Expo 2020 Dubai on Thursday night. Photo: Expo 2020 Dubai
The opening ceremony under the magnificent Al Wasl dome. Photo: Karim Sahib / AFP
The silver and white ghaf tree forms a centrepiece at the performance centre of Al Wasl Plaza during the opening ceremony. Photo: Ali Haider / EPA
Andrea Bocelli takes the stage at the opening ceremony. Photo: Expo 2020 Dubai
Dancers perform during the opening ceremony. Getty
Ellie Goulding performs at the Expo 2020 opening ceremony. Photo: Expo 2020 Dubai
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, at the Expo 2020 opening ceremony. Photo: Expo 2020 Dubai
Chinese pianist Lang Lang opens the performance at Al Wasl Plaza for the Middle East's first Expo. Photo: Ali Haider / EPA
Artists perform during the opening ceremony of Expo 2020 Dubai on Thursday. Photo: Reuters
In the pink with a splash of colour as the event starts with a bang. Photo: Reuters
The impressive opening ceremony for Expo 2020 Dubai, which was streamed live to millions around the world. Photo: Giuseppe Cacace / AFP
All flowered up at the Expo 2020 Dubai opening ceremony. Reuters
If the opening night is anything to go by, the entire event promises to be quite a spectacle. Reuters
Artists perform during the opening ceremony of Expo 2020 Dubai. Photo: Kamran Jebreili / AP
Lights, colour and fun are the order of the day. Photo: Reuters
Andra Day takes centre stage. Photo: Expo 2020 Dubai
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, declares Expo 2020 Dubai open with a prayer. Photo: Expo 2020 Dubai
World-renowned Emirati singer Hussain Al Jassmi performs in his country's Expo opening ceremony. Photo: Expo 2020 Dubai
Ahlam AlShamsi performs. Photo: Expo 2020 Dubai
Dimitri Kerkentzes, Secretary General of the Bureau International des Expositions, the governing body of world's fairs, addresses the audience at the opening ceremony. Photo: Expo 2020 Dubai
Hussain Al Jassmi, Mayssa Karaa and Almas perform during the opening ceremony of Expo 2020 Dubai. AFP
Fireworks light up the skies around the Expo site in Dubai. Photo: Expo 2020 Dubai
A logo of Expo 2020 Dubai is projected during the opening ceremony. AFP
Flag-raising at the opening ceremony of Expo 2020 Dubai on Thursday.
Ahlam AlShamsi performs during the opening ceremony. Photo: Kamran Jebreili / AP
Artists perform during the opening ceremony of Expo 2020 Dubai. Photo: Reuters
The opening ceremony of Expo 2020 Dubai on Thursday. Photo: Reuters
The full spectacle that was the Expo 2020 Dubai opening ceremony on Thursday night. Photo: David Jimenez / Expo 2020 Dubai
Dubai opens its Expo 2020 with an extravagant opening ceremony of fireworks, flags and light shows. Photo: AFP
Insight and opinion from The National’s editorial leadership
October 01, 2021
Expos can change cities. By drawing large numbers of international visitors and inviting countries to showcase the very best of their societies, they introduce new possibilities to the local landscape. And when the party is over, the attendees take what they have learnt back home with them.
This is perhaps aptly summed up in the theme of Dubai Expo 2020: "Connecting minds, creating the future." The mega-event that for the past eight years has been a vision, a blueprint and then a work in progress, is finally reality, ready for the world stage.
Last night, as the opening ceremony got under way, viewers witnessed the scope of what a post-pandemic future could hold.
Visitors will get a glimpse of the kind of world we want to live in, as sustainability becomes a driving force
Over the next 182 days, Dubai Expo 2020 will focus on the sub-themes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability. Visitors will no doubt get a glimpse of the kind of world we want to live in, as sustainability becomes a driving force in global development and climate action becomes an increasingly non-negotiable priority.
The Expo site will display what this sustainable future could look like. The actual physical space is larger than 600 football pitches, and a testament to how seriously the UAE, as it reaches its 50th anniversary, takes the ideals the event represents.
As Dr Nawal Al-Hosany, the UAE's representative at the International Renewable Energy Agency, wrote in The National last month: "[Expo] is set to be a manifestation of the words of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai: 'The future belongs to those who can imagine it, design it and execute it.' "
Those visitors perhaps coming to the UAE for the first time to see the Expo will have an opportunity to also tour the UAE's landmarks, including the famed Burj Khalifa and the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, one of the largest places of worship in the world.
Over the next six months, visitors from across the world – and also from within the UAE – will get a chance to marvel at how seamlessly Dubai has been able to bring together a vision of sustainability and technology, harnessing the power of imagination and addressing the needs of the future.
It has been a year of introspection worldwide, as societies ask themselves how best to chart a path through not only the pandemic, but an era of less certainty, greater complexity. In Dubai, the world will come together to have a good time, but also to ponder these issues as one. When it is over, the hope is that people will walk away with greater confidence in the future we can all build together.
Men: Hamad Nawad and Khalid Al Balushi (56kg), Omar Al Fadhli and Saeed Al Mazroui (62kg), Taleb Al Kirbi and Humaid Al Kaabi (69kg), Mohammed Al Qubaisi and Saud Al Hammadi (70kg), Khalfan Belhol and Mohammad Haitham Radhi (85kg), Faisal Al Ketbi and Zayed Al Kaabi (94kg)
Women: Wadima Al Yafei and Mahra Al Hanaei (49kg), Bashayer Al Matrooshi and Hessa Al Shamsi (62kg)
The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.
The crown
Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.
The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.
The audience
On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.
The procession
The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.
Meet the people
On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.
Indoor cricket World Cup:
Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23
UAE fixtures:
Men
Saturday, September 16 – 1.45pm, v New Zealand
Sunday, September 17 – 10.30am, v Australia; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Monday, September 18 – 2pm, v England; 7.15pm, v India
Tuesday, September 19 – 12.15pm, v Singapore; 5.30pm, v Sri Lanka
Thursday, September 21 – 2pm v Malaysia
Friday, September 22 – 3.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 3pm, grand final
Women
Saturday, September 16 – 5.15pm, v Australia
Sunday, September 17 – 2pm, v South Africa; 7.15pm, v New Zealand
Monday, September 18 – 5.30pm, v England
Tuesday, September 19 – 10.30am, v New Zealand; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Thursday, September 21 – 12.15pm, v Australia
Friday, September 22 – 1.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 1pm, grand final
5pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,600m; Winner: Mystery Land, Fabrice Veron, Helal Al Alawi.
5.30pm: Handicap Dh85,000 1,000m; Winner: Shanaghai City, Jesus Rosales, Rashed Bouresly.
The alternatives
• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.
• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.
• 2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.
• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases - but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.
