Borge Brende, president of the World Economic Forum, described major themes the WEF's councils will address at annual meeting in Dubai. Satish Kumar/ The National
Borge Brende, president of the World Economic Forum, described major themes the WEF's councils will address at annual meeting in Dubai. Satish Kumar/ The National
Borge Brende, president of the World Economic Forum, described major themes the WEF's councils will address at annual meeting in Dubai. Satish Kumar/ The National
Borge Brende, president of the World Economic Forum, described major themes the WEF's councils will address at annual meeting in Dubai. Satish Kumar/ The National

World Economic Forum grapples with transition ‘from Cold War to hot peace’ in Dubai


Kelsey Warner
  • English
  • Arabic

The World Economic Forum’s meeting of its Global Future Councils began on Sunday in Dubai, in “the world’s biggest brainstorm to lay the groundwork for our annual meeting in Davos”, its president said.

The international community must tackle change “from Cold War to a hot peace” as the slowest economic growth in a decade has led to increasing polarisation and a possible global recession looms, Borge Brende said.

What will happen when half of the world starts adopting Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and blockchain, while the other half remains light years away?

“We must build the tools to work against such a backdrop and a truly globalised world, where your problems are my problems and vice versa,” Mr Brende said.

More than 600 delegates from government, academia and the private sector are attending the annual meeting of the Global Future Councils in Dubai.

They will set the agenda for the meeting in Davos in January including themes of geopolitics, artificial intelligence, training and retraining, and mental health.

Mohammed Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future, said the WEF must answer three questions “for a more stable, safe and happy future”.

“We have a popular saying in our culture: 'The key to knowledge and wisdom is constant questioning',” Mr Al Gergawi said at the Madinat Jumeirah complex.

With more than a billion people still living without electricity and 1 per cent of the world’s population owning more than half of global wealth, the WEF must question if the Fourth Industrial Revolution has contributed to the gap between rich and poor societies.

“What will happen when half of the world starts adopting the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and blockchain, while the other half remains light years away from more advanced societies?” Mr Al Gergawi asked.

The data revolution has also underscored “a question of trust. Trust in institutions, media and government". Trust is the foundation of stable societies, he said.

Mr Al Gergawi mentioned protests in France over a rise in fuel taxes, in Chile after a change to metro fares, and in Hong Kong after attempted extradition reform.

The social unrest highlights the challenges for governments in gaining trust from their citizens that they are working in their interests, he said.

“The UAE, in collaboration with the WEF, is trying as much as possible to create this model for a country of the future which will be able to balance technology with social care,” Mr Al Gergawi said.

Six large-scale objects on show
  • Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
  • The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
  • A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
  • Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
  • A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
  • Torrijos Palace dome
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

Iftar programme at the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding

Established in 1998, the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding was created with a vision to teach residents about the traditions and customs of the UAE. Its motto is ‘open doors, open minds’. All year-round, visitors can sign up for a traditional Emirati breakfast, lunch or dinner meal, as well as a range of walking tours, including ones to sites such as the Jumeirah Mosque or Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood.

Every year during Ramadan, an iftar programme is rolled out. This allows guests to break their fast with the centre’s presenters, visit a nearby mosque and observe their guides while they pray. These events last for about two hours and are open to the public, or can be booked for a private event.

Until the end of Ramadan, the iftar events take place from 7pm until 9pm, from Saturday to Thursday. Advanced booking is required.

For more details, email openminds@cultures.ae or visit www.cultures.ae

 

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Tearful appearance

Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday. 

Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow. 

She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.

A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.

Iran's dirty tricks to dodge sanctions

There’s increased scrutiny on the tricks being used to keep commodities flowing to and from blacklisted countries. Here’s a description of how some work.

1 Going Dark

A common method to transport Iranian oil with stealth is to turn off the Automatic Identification System, an electronic device that pinpoints a ship’s location. Known as going dark, a vessel flicks the switch before berthing and typically reappears days later, masking the location of its load or discharge port.

2. Ship-to-Ship Transfers

A first vessel will take its clandestine cargo away from the country in question before transferring it to a waiting ship, all of this happening out of sight. The vessels will then sail in different directions. For about a third of Iranian exports, more than one tanker typically handles a load before it’s delivered to its final destination, analysts say.

3. Fake Destinations

Signaling the wrong destination to load or unload is another technique. Ships that intend to take cargo from Iran may indicate their loading ports in sanction-free places like Iraq. Ships can keep changing their destinations and end up not berthing at any of them.

4. Rebranded Barrels

Iranian barrels can also be rebranded as oil from a nation free from sanctions such as Iraq. The countries share fields along their border and the crude has similar characteristics. Oil from these deposits can be trucked out to another port and documents forged to hide Iran as the origin.

* Bloomberg

ON%20TRACK
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Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills

Coal Black Mornings

Brett Anderson

Little Brown Book Group 

Global state-owned investor ranking by size

1.

United States

2.

China

3.

UAE

4.

Japan

5

Norway

6.

Canada

7.

Singapore

8.

Australia

9.

Saudi Arabia

10.

South Korea

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