ABU DHABI // Tourism workers have been learning how to preserve some of the UAE’s most important archaeological sites for posterity.
In 2011, Unesco designated Al Ain a World Heritage Site for its collection of ancient tombs, buildings and infrastructure, some of which are 4,000 years old.
The Protecting Heritage Sites programme is part of continuing education for tourism professionals. It will take place over two sessions, the first of which started last Sunday and runs until December 19.
Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi linked up with the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority to organise the course, which aims to develop these sites for tourism while ensuring they are properly maintained and managed.
The teachers are professionals and academics from backgrounds including archaeology and anthropology, while the majority of its attendees are tourism authority employees.
Topics covered include international legislation and guidelines, anthropological survey methods and local laws. The course includes field work in Al Ain.
Prof Eric Fouache, the university’s vice chancellor, said cooperation between the organisations was essential, adding that the tourism agency had asked his university to set up the programme.
“In a project like this, everyone is important,” Prof Fouache said.
Part of the field work involves talking with people in Al Ain to understand their views about the area, he said. Another aspect looks at how to manage the site and plan infrastructure.
Another teacher is Michel Cotto, an adviser to the International Council on Monuments and Sites, a non-government organisation that advises Unesco.
Mr Cotto also helped to evaluate Al Ain’s bid for World Heritage status, and said he hoped to see the region reach global standards in managing the sites.
“We need to think global but have action at a local [level], but that is not so easy,” he said.
Sultan Al Mansoori, senior overseas executive in the authority’s promotions department, called the course a knowledge transfer.
Mr Al Mansoori hoped the programme would be expanded to include academics and professionals outside of the authority, who may benefit from a more holistic understanding of heritage.
“If you don’t follow up and keep developing, how do you protect the sites in the future? One day it will go from us,” he said.
Mr Al Mansoori believed the course would prepare him for questions from overseas experts about the heritage sites.
The Al Ain sites are important because they chart the development of successive prehistoric cultures in the desert region, Unesco has said.
In ancient times the area was a crossroads for the people of Oman, Arabia and Mesopotamia.
The area holds many layers of archaeological remains, and displays the heritage of prehistoric water management in a desert civilisation.
Mr Cotto said although there were similar sites in Oman and Saudi Arabia, Al Ain was unique because the ancient buildings were spread across both oases and desert landscapes.
The second session of the programme is scheduled for February.
lcarroll@thenational.ae
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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.”
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