Spectacular fireworks and entertainment welcome the world to Expo 2020 Dubai on Thursday night. Photo: Expo 2020 Dubai
The opening ceremony under the magnificent Al Wasl dome. Photo: Karim Sahib / AFP
The silver and white ghaf tree forms a centrepiece at the performance centre of Al Wasl Plaza during the opening ceremony. Photo: Ali Haider / EPA
Andrea Bocelli takes the stage at the opening ceremony. Photo: Expo 2020 Dubai
Dancers perform during the opening ceremony. Getty
Ellie Goulding performs at the Expo 2020 opening ceremony. Photo: Expo 2020 Dubai
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, at the Expo 2020 opening ceremony. Photo: Expo 2020 Dubai
Chinese pianist Lang Lang opens the performance at Al Wasl Plaza for the Middle East's first Expo. Photo: Ali Haider / EPA
Artists perform during the opening ceremony of Expo 2020 Dubai on Thursday. Photo: Reuters
In the pink with a splash of colour as the event starts with a bang. Photo: Reuters
The impressive opening ceremony for Expo 2020 Dubai, which was streamed live to millions around the world. Photo: Giuseppe Cacace / AFP
All flowered up at the Expo 2020 Dubai opening ceremony. Reuters
If the opening night is anything to go by, the entire event promises to be quite a spectacle. Reuters
Artists perform during the opening ceremony of Expo 2020 Dubai. Photo: Kamran Jebreili / AP
Lights, colour and fun are the order of the day. Photo: Reuters
Andra Day takes centre stage. Photo: Expo 2020 Dubai
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, declares Expo 2020 Dubai open with a prayer. Photo: Expo 2020 Dubai
World-renowned Emirati singer Hussain Al Jassmi performs in his country's Expo opening ceremony. Photo: Expo 2020 Dubai
Ahlam AlShamsi performs. Photo: Expo 2020 Dubai
Dimitri Kerkentzes, Secretary General of the Bureau International des Expositions, the governing body of world's fairs, addresses the audience at the opening ceremony. Photo: Expo 2020 Dubai
Hussain Al Jassmi, Mayssa Karaa and Almas perform during the opening ceremony of Expo 2020 Dubai. AFP
Fireworks light up the skies around the Expo site in Dubai. Photo: Expo 2020 Dubai
A logo of Expo 2020 Dubai is projected during the opening ceremony. AFP
Flag-raising at the opening ceremony of Expo 2020 Dubai on Thursday.
Ahlam AlShamsi performs during the opening ceremony. Photo: Kamran Jebreili / AP
Artists perform during the opening ceremony of Expo 2020 Dubai. Photo: Reuters
The opening ceremony of Expo 2020 Dubai on Thursday. Photo: Reuters
The full spectacle that was the Expo 2020 Dubai opening ceremony on Thursday night. Photo: David Jimenez / Expo 2020 Dubai
Dubai opens its Expo 2020 with an extravagant opening ceremony of fireworks, flags and light shows. Photo: AFP
Insight and opinion from The National’s editorial leadership
October 01, 2021
Expos can change cities. By drawing large numbers of international visitors and inviting countries to showcase the very best of their societies, they introduce new possibilities to the local landscape. And when the party is over, the attendees take what they have learnt back home with them.
This is perhaps aptly summed up in the theme of Dubai Expo 2020: "Connecting minds, creating the future." The mega-event that for the past eight years has been a vision, a blueprint and then a work in progress, is finally reality, ready for the world stage.
Last night, as the opening ceremony got under way, viewers witnessed the scope of what a post-pandemic future could hold.
Visitors will get a glimpse of the kind of world we want to live in, as sustainability becomes a driving force
Over the next 182 days, Dubai Expo 2020 will focus on the sub-themes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability. Visitors will no doubt get a glimpse of the kind of world we want to live in, as sustainability becomes a driving force in global development and climate action becomes an increasingly non-negotiable priority.
The Expo site will display what this sustainable future could look like. The actual physical space is larger than 600 football pitches, and a testament to how seriously the UAE, as it reaches its 50th anniversary, takes the ideals the event represents.
As Dr Nawal Al-Hosany, the UAE's representative at the International Renewable Energy Agency, wrote in The National last month: "[Expo] is set to be a manifestation of the words of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai: 'The future belongs to those who can imagine it, design it and execute it.' "
Those visitors perhaps coming to the UAE for the first time to see the Expo will have an opportunity to also tour the UAE's landmarks, including the famed Burj Khalifa and the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, one of the largest places of worship in the world.
Over the next six months, visitors from across the world – and also from within the UAE – will get a chance to marvel at how seamlessly Dubai has been able to bring together a vision of sustainability and technology, harnessing the power of imagination and addressing the needs of the future.
It has been a year of introspection worldwide, as societies ask themselves how best to chart a path through not only the pandemic, but an era of less certainty, greater complexity. In Dubai, the world will come together to have a good time, but also to ponder these issues as one. When it is over, the hope is that people will walk away with greater confidence in the future we can all build together.
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
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.”
The National photo project
Chris Whiteoak, a photographer at The National, spent months taking some of Jacqui Allan's props around the UAE, positioning them perfectly in front of some of the country's most recognisable landmarks. He placed a pirate on Kite Beach, in front of the Burj Al Arab, the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland at the Burj Khalifa, and brought one of Allan's snails (Freddie, which represents her grandfather) to the Dubai Frame. In Abu Dhabi, a dinosaur went to Al Ain's Jebel Hafeet. And a flamingo was taken all the way to the Hatta Mountains. This special project suitably brings to life the quirky nature of Allan's prop shop (and Allan herself!).
Sir Tim Berners-Lee was born in London in a household of mathematicians and computer scientists. Both his mother, Mary Lee, and father, Conway, were early computer scientists who worked on the Ferranti 1 - the world's first commercially-available, general purpose digital computer. Sir Tim studied Physics at the University of Oxford and held a series of roles developing code and building software before moving to Switzerland to work for Cern, the European Particle Physics laboratory. He developed the worldwide web code as a side project in 1989 as a global information-sharing system. After releasing the first web code in 1991, Cern made it open and free for all to use. Sir Tim now campaigns for initiatives to make sure the web remains open and accessible to all.
