Israel will convey messages of openness and co-operation with its Expo 2020 Dubai pavilion.
Inspired by an open tent concept, Israel’s pavilion will be open from end to end and feature seven gates that visitors can walk through as they climb a slope that forms the roof of the main arena below.
The internal sides of the gates will have LED screens where information about Israel and its culture will be projected.
Underneath, the main arena will tell the story of Israel’s history, heritage, culture and its people.
We wanted to transmit that we are an open country, we are part of the region and we are embracing everyone
"We are going to take the visitors on a voyage of Israel, showing them the diversity of the people and the various ethnic groups in Israel," Elazar Cohen, Israel's Expo 2020 Dubai commissioner general, told The National.
The pavilion's theme, Journey to Tomorrow – displayed on its logo on the building in a combination of Hebrew and Arabic languages – will form the basis of its plan for the six months, where the intent is to forge relationships and create new economic opportunities.
“It’s the only pavilion that you can see through to the horizon,” Mr Cohen said.
“You can see the horizon. You can see the future. It's an invitation for everyone to join us to join together towards a future, a good future that the region has thanks to the Abraham Accord.”
Mr Cohen said Israel received the invitation in April 2019, more than a year before the signing of the Abraham Accord on September 15, 2020.
“It is not a simple decision to invite Israel to attend in an Arab country for six months in one of the biggest events in the world and for that we are grateful to the government of the UAE and to the organisers,” Mr Cohen said.
He described the Abraham Accord as an “historic agreement" that will be hugely beneficial.
“Not only on the bilateral level of UAE, I think they have an immensely positive influence in the region and even beyond," Mr Cohen said.
“These agreements created many frameworks for the region. We would like to use Expo 2020 as a platform to pour content into these agreements, in the economy, investments, culture, and academy [universities]."
Since the Abraham Accord, bilateral trade has soared, reaching Dh1 billion ($272.3m) by January this year. Mr Cohen sees Expo as an opportunity to grow that further.
"Israel is known as an innovative country. I think that we can join our strong elements with whatever the UAE has to offer, and the UAE has a lot to offer," he said.
“Expo is only a small phase and an important platform, but I'm sure that there will be a lot of co-operation events before during and after the Expo period.”
Mr Cohen said the design of the pavilion is based on the tent of Abraham, which was open to all four sides. The intention is to convey Israel's key messages, the first of which is openness.
“We wanted to transmit that we are an open country, we are part of the region and we are embracing everyone,” Mr Cohen said.
The second message is that Israel is an integral part of the region with a desire to “deepen and widen our presence here”, he said.
The final message is to collaborate and co-operate and help to “create synergies for people in the region”.
The pavilion focus will be on Israel's expertise across a variety of industries and to connect with other nations taking part.
“We are going to show in our pavilion all kinds of possibilities of opportunity co-operation in many sectors – in food security, in water, in the protection of the environment, in cyber, in smart mobility and smart energy – all the challenges that humanity is facing today.
“We would like to join our knowledge with the knowledge that exists here and the entire world.
“I think that we can together unite and invest in a common future and learn that what unites us is much bigger than what divides us. This is one of the messages we want to pass to our visitors.”
With six flights a day now operating to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, he expects Expo to encourage more visitors to come from Israel for the event.
“There is a great interest in Israel to visit the UAE, both Abu Dhabi and in Dubai. It's a new destination. It's an Arab country, many of the Israelis have Arab origins and they don't have many Arab destinations to visit and now the UAE is open to them, and they are very much eager to come and visit.”
Last month, fighting between Israel and Hamas escalated to its worst level since 2014. The 11-day conflict killed scores of people, caused widespread destruction in the Gaza Strip and brought life in much of Israel to a standstill.
Mr Cohen said the conflict did not have any impact on its plans for Expo.
“Life is composed of many verticals. Some of them are not that positive, some of them are very positive. Expo is concentrating on the positive agenda and we are going to focus also on the positive agenda.
“We're not going to single ourselves out. So, the events are events, but we are focusing on Expo and the positive results of Expo.”
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.”
JAPANESE GRAND PRIX INFO
Schedule (All times UAE)
First practice: Friday, 5-6.30am
Second practice: Friday, 9-10.30am
Third practice: Saturday, 7-8am
Qualifying: Saturday, 10-11am
Race: Sunday, 9am-midday
Race venue: Suzuka International Racing Course
Circuit Length: 5.807km
Number of Laps: 53
Watch live: beIN Sports HD
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Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
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Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
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