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The images that have emerged before Expo 2020 Dubai begins suggest that it could be the most spectacular gathering in the long history of world’s fairs.
But the last two events have set the bar high, with Expo 2010 Shanghai being unprecedented in scale and Expo 2015 Milano featuring some of the most imaginative pavilions yet.
The sense of excitement in China around Expo 2010 Shanghai was palpable because the event was more than an international showcase – it also encapsulated the country’s modern-day economic rise.
In Shanghai we had massive numbers of people using the pavilion. We also had a constant queue of people coming in
Peter Vine,
director of the UAE pavilion at the Shanghai and Milan expos
Not far from Shanghai’s extraordinary clutch of skyscrapers, a vast piece of land beside the Huangpu River was transformed into the largest-ever world-fair exhibition space.
Record amounts were invested in the 523-hectare site and supporting infrastructure, more countries than ever took part and visitor numbers smashed records.
Shanghai’s Metro grew from three to 11 lines in the seven years before the event's opening, demonstrating China’s ability to push forward large-scale infrastructure projects with remarkable speed.
As the event grew nearer, models of the its blue mascot, Haibao, were installed across the city and in its shiny new subway stations.
In Shanghai's main shopping precincts, away from the Expo 2010 site, shops opened to sell souvenirs, many of them featuring Haibao or the eye-catching Chinese pavilion.
The city’s informal economy was also involved, with street vendors selling unofficial gifts laid out on pavements near the exhibition site.
As the event in the world’s most populous nation opened, crowds were vast and well-behaved.
Held under the theme Better City, Better Life, Expo 2010 focused on urban development, although this theme was often interpreted loosely. With a vast exhibition space, pavilions were sometimes as large as they were eye-catching.
Sand dunes and silk worms
The UAE’s pavilion was a shimmering sand dune, since rebuilt in porcelain-clad form on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi.
Japan’s, which took up almost as much ground as a football pitch, was covered with solar cells and was nicknamed the "purple silkworm".
“In Shanghai we had massive numbers of people using the pavilion,” says Peter Vine, the director of the UAE pavilion at the expos in Shanghai and Milan, among others.
“We weren’t far from the China pavilion, which had queues that took five or six hours. We also had a constant queue of people coming in. Queuing, for us, took about four hours at the time.”
When Mr Vine spoke to a Chinese boy in the line, queuing with his grandparents, it turned out it was his second visit – he had waited for several hours the day before.
Saudi Arabia’s futuristic, disc-shaped offering featured a stunning audio-visual film display. Others went for a more traditional look, such as Nepal with its temple-inspired design.
With queues lasting hours at some pavilions, it was no surprise that when it was over, Expo 2010 Shanghai turned out to have attracted more visitors than any previous world fair: 73 million.
The previous record was 64 million set by Expo ‘70 in Osaka, Japan.
An Italian flavour
With Expo 2010 Shanghai being a supersized demonstration of China’s 21st-century emergence as a global force, the next world fair was never likely equal it in scale.
But Expo Milano 2015 was still a huge international gathering, and what it lacked in records it made up for in originality.
Italy’s fashion capital offered a beautiful, historical setting for the build-up to the event.
In the Piazza del Duomo, the main square, a vast stage was erected to host an orchestra that played in front of the city’s famous cathedral, Duomo di Milano, construction of which began in the 14th century.
The evening air held a buzz as people wandered through the pedestrianised streets, which were lined with the flags of the participating nations – including the UAE.
When the event itself got underway there was heavy global media interest, with myriad TV journalists recording pieces to camera in the enormous covered walkway that ran through the expo site.
The Italian prime minister at the time, Matteo Renzi, toured the event, accompanied by a vast scrum of security, officials and reporters.
Brightly dressed performers on stilts created a carnival atmosphere, while bicycling ice-cream sellers and models of the famous Fiat 500 car ensured that this most international of events maintained a distinctly Italian flavour.
This was the second world fair the city had hosted – the first was the Milan International in 1906 – and its theme of, Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life, resulted in some stunning interpretations by nations.
None were more eye-catching than Israel’s Fields of Tomorrow exhibit, a 1,000-square-metre vertical facade or living wall on which crops such as rice and wheat grew.
The display illustrated a way to maximise food production when land is limited, and to insulate buildings against temperature extremes, both hot and cold.
Other pavilions were unashamedly utilitarian in their reflection of the agriculture-related theme. Belarus, for example, proudly displayed a Belarus-branded tractor manufactured in Minsk.
Thailand had a model of a buffalo in a flooded paddy field, Kuwait offered an array of sails in a nod to the traditional fishing dhow, the Qatari pavilion recreated a souq, and Bahrain’s pavilion had trees with ripe fruit to pick.
Especially memorable, if less obviously agricultural, was the centrepiece of the British pavilion, a structure called the Hive that was made from almost 170,000 aluminium components arranged into layer upon layer of hexagons.
As in Shanghai, Mr Vine says there was great interest from visitors in the UAE pavilion, which offered echoes of the narrow streets and courtyards of historical Gulf towns and cities.
“The queues were extraordinary,” he says. “The Milan pavilion was very widely praised for what it did, including the technology which was used – the 3D film.”
Brazil’s pavilion had an enormous horizontal rope net that visitors could walk on – something both adults and children took great delight in doing.
Elsewhere, there was everything from beautiful copper horses to performances by a traditional Korean orchestra and, emerging from a pool beside the Czech pavilion, an offbeat sculpture that was half bird, half car.
Given that it was held in a country with a population just 4 per cent the size of China’s, Expo 2015 was always going to be more modestly attended than its predecessor in Shanghai.
But the Milan event did draw an impressive crowd of 21.5 million, many of whom were no doubt impressed by the daring array of exhibits.
The organisers of Expo 2020 Dubai have set themselves a bigger target: 25 million people over six months.
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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.”
Bio
Born in Dubai in 1994
Her father is a retired Emirati police officer and her mother is originally from Kuwait
She Graduated from the American University of Sharjah in 2015 and is currently working on her Masters in Communication from the University of Sharjah.
Her favourite film is Pacific Rim, directed by Guillermo del Toro
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
The Details
Kabir Singh
Produced by: Cinestaan Studios, T-Series
Directed by: Sandeep Reddy Vanga
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Suresh Oberoi, Soham Majumdar, Arjun Pahwa
Rating: 2.5/5
More on animal trafficking
More Expo 2020 Dubai pavilions:
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
