From our rich history of economic exchange, to the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1972, the UAE and the Netherlands have enjoyed nearly 50 years of partnership. While the world-famous flower fields of the Netherlands and the UAE's desert metropolises can seem worlds apart, there is more that connects our peoples than meets the eye. With over 7,800 Dutch nationals calling the UAE home – alongside nearly 200 other nationalities – visitors from the Netherlands have always been given a warm welcome here. Historically, the coasts of the UAE served as prime commerce and supply points for Dutch traders and explorers, and today our country continues to serve as a key entry point into the region for the Netherland's businesses and entrepreneurs. Trade between our two countries has flourished in recent years, with total UAE investment flows into the Netherlands reaching about $750 million between 2003-2019. In 2020, despite the Covid-19 pandemic's impact on global markets, non-oil foreign trade between our two nations reached more than $3 billion.
The Netherlands pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai will keep its carbon footprint as small as possible using reusable, recyclable and biodegradable material. V8 Architects
The UAE and the Netherlands have invested in the communication, renewable energy, and transportation and warehousing sectors as key areas of focus to create jobs and generate economic opportunities. The agreements signed by our two countries – including ones for the avoidance of double taxation and air services – reflect this level of economic engagement. With 42 weekly flights between our two countries during the winter of 2020, it is easy to see why about 100 Dutch companies have invested in the UAE over the years, and why the UAE has become the most significant export market in the Middle East. As the world sets out on a post-pandemic recovery, the UAE is optimistic that bilateral trade will continue this remarkable growth. We look forward to exploring new opportunities for partnership by increasing trade delegations and official visits in the coming period.
Over 7,800 Dutch nationals call the UAE home
The UAE-Dutch relationship has also brought our peoples together to share in our rich cultures. We both believe firmly that by strengthening cultural collaboration, we can benefit from each other's experience. This year's inaugural UAE-Netherlands Week is evidence that our partners in the Netherlands share our interest in promoting the arts and engaging in knowledge exchange through our museums and other creative fields. The UAE Embassy in The Hague participates annually in the Embassies Festival, where we showcase Emirati culture through food, folk dance, traditional clothing and other heritage displays. In addition, the UAE Embassy has benefited from its many visits to Dutch universities to draw lessons from the fields of agriculture and food technology, two areas in which the Netherlands excels. As global tourism resumes, UAE citizens and residents are keen to enjoy all that the Netherlands has to offer and even more enthusiastic in welcoming back Dutch visitors to the UAE. This year, as the Netherlands joins nearly 200 other countries and organisations participating in Expo 2020 Dubai, we will have the opportunity to experience the Dutch language, culture, and traditions in the UAE.
Omar Saif Ghobash is the UAE's Assistant Minister for Public and Cultural Diplomacy
Expo 2020 Dubai will also serve as a forum through which the UAE and the Netherlands can strengthen one of the pillars of our enduring relationship: food security. We are excited to see what our Dutch partners will display in their "microclimate" pavilion, which will focus on water, energy, and food resources. Our two countries have worked concertedly to achieve food security in a sustainable manner, and Expo 2020 Dubai offers opportunities for Dutch agri-tech companies to expand their engagement within the UAE, as well as other target markets. In recent years, the UAE and the Netherlands have held high-level discussions on how to bolster global food security efforts. Our two countries share a commitment to assisting developing nations in addressing concerns over food security and fostering innovation in this field to promote new and efficient technologies.
As the world confronts the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, this issue has taken on renewed importance. In November 2018, the UAE launched the National Food Security Strategy to ensure that everyone in the UAE has access to sufficient, affordable and nutritious food, especially during emergencies. The National Food Security Strategy laid the foundations for enhancing our country's preparedness by underscoring the need to diversify import sources, enhance local production and identify new markets. At the start of the pandemic, the UAE updated the National Food Security Strategy to promote self-sufficiency and provide the market with necessary commodities during the Covid-19 crisis. We believe we can benefit from working with the Netherlands and other international partners to share this knowledge with the global community and continue to learn from their best practices in the field. The UAE has long valued its partnership with the Netherlands and believes that this year's historic celebrations will elevate our co-operation to new horizons. In 2021, the year in which the UAE celebrates 50 years as a nation and nearly 50 years of friendship with the Netherlands, we are determined to seize upon the opportunities that abound for bilateral and multilateral collaboration. It is this belief that has led the UAE and the Netherlands to connect deeply our two regions through diplomatic, economic and cultural exchange over the past half-century. Ultimately, it is this vision that will guide our partnership – defined by opportunity, innovation, and mutual benefit – for many more years to come.
Omar Saif Ghobash is Assistant Minister for Public and Cultural Diplomacy at the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation
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.”
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
How to apply for a drone permit
Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
Submit their request
What are the regulations?
Fly it within visual line of sight
Never over populated areas
Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
Ultra processed foods
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
The biog
Simon Nadim has completed 7,000 dives.
The hardest dive in the UAE is the German U-boat 110m down off the Fujairah coast.
As a child, he loved the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau
He also led a team that discovered the long-lost portion of the Ines oil tanker.
If you are interested in diving, he runs the XR Hub Dive Centre in Fujairah
For tickets for the two-day Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) event, entitled Dubai Invasion 2019, on September 27 and 28 go to www.meraticket.com.
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023 More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
MATCH INFO
Euro 2020 qualifier
Croatia v Hungary, Thursday, 10.45pm, UAE
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Friday (UAE kick-off times)
Levante v Real Mallorca (12am)
Leganes v Barcelona (4pm)
Real Betis v Valencia (7pm)
Granada v Atletico Madrid (9.30pm)
Sunday
Real Madrid v Real Sociedad (12am)
Espanyol v Getafe (3pm)
Osasuna v Athletic Bilbao (5pm)
Eibar v Alaves (7pm)
Villarreal v Celta Vigo (9.30pm)
Monday
Real Valladolid v Sevilla (12am)
US tops drug cost charts
The study of 13 essential drugs showed costs in the United States were about 300 per cent higher than the global average, followed by Germany at 126 per cent and 122 per cent in the UAE.
Thailand, Kenya and Malaysia were rated as nations with the lowest costs, about 90 per cent cheaper.
In the case of insulin, diabetic patients in the US paid five and a half times the global average, while in the UAE the costs are about 50 per cent higher than the median price of branded and generic drugs.
Some of the costliest drugs worldwide include Lipitor for high cholesterol.
The study’s price index placed the US at an exorbitant 2,170 per cent higher for Lipitor than the average global price and the UAE at the eighth spot globally with costs 252 per cent higher.
High blood pressure medication Zestril was also more than 2,680 per cent higher in the US and the UAE price was 187 per cent higher than the global price.
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
INFO
What: DP World Tour Championship When: November 21-24 Where: Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai Tickets:www.ticketmaster.ae.
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Born: Kuwait in 1986
Family: She is the youngest of seven siblings
Time in the UAE: 10 years
Hobbies: audiobooks and fitness: she works out every day, enjoying kickboxing and basketball
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
The annual report by the Community Security Trust, which advises the Jewish community on security , warned on Thursday that anti-Semitic incidents in Britain had reached a record high.
It found there had been 2,255 anti-Semitic incidents reported in 2021, a rise of 34 per cent from the previous year.
The report detailed the convictions of a number of people for anti-Semitic crimes, including one man who was jailed for setting up a neo-Nazi group which had encouraged “the eradication of Jewish people” and another who had posted anti-Semitic homemade videos on social media.
Kathryn Hawkes of House of Hawkes on being a good guest (because we’ve all had bad ones)
Arrive with a thank you gift, or make sure you have one for your host by the time you leave.
Offer to buy groceries, cook them a meal or take your hosts out for dinner.
Help out around the house.
Entertain yourself so that your hosts don’t feel that they constantly need to.
Leave no trace of your stay – if you’ve borrowed a book, return it to where you found it.
In Windhoek, Namibia - Top two teams qualify for the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, which starts on March 4.
UAE fixtures
Thursday February 8, v Kenya; Friday February 9, v Canada; Sunday February 11, v Nepal; Monday February 12, v Oman; Wednesday February 14, v Namibia; Thursday February 15, final
