Expo 2020 Dubai helped accelerate recovery from COVID-19 pandemic

Staff Reporter, Gulf Today

Dr Thani Bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, said the UAE values leadership and aims to foresee the future, affirming the key role of Expo 2020 Dubai in accelerating the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and achieving growth in all economic sectors.

In an exclusive interview with the Emirates News Agency (WAM), Al Zeyoudi highlighted the recent achievements of the UAE, which is progressing steadily towards the post-pandemic era, due to the support and directives of its leadership.

“We witnessed the importance of Expo 2020 Dubai, based on the values of dialogue and partnership and connecting minds and cultures, and positively impacted the UAE’s global stature, especially in the areas of the economy, development and prosperity,” he said.

He also stressed that the distinguished outcomes of the major international event were underscored by its total number of visitors, amounting to 24 million.

Al Zeyoudi explained the fact that Expo 2020 Dubai created an unprecedented opportunity for government institutions, private sector companies and academia to raise future agendas and benefit from the momentum it created, to establish sustainable partnerships.

He then pointed out that the UAE plans to keep the site of Expo 2020 Dubai and turn it into the city of the future, amongst other initiatives that will help the country benefit from the facilities of the international event, which addressed common issues that concern the entire world, such as education, climate change, health, food and cultural openness.

Speaking about the benefits gained by the foreign trade sector from the success of Expo 2020 Dubai, he explained that it is a success for the UAE, which has strengthened its stature as a preferred business destination, established partnerships with other countries and opened up to international markets.

The UAE’s non-oil foreign trade stood at Dhs1.9 trillion in 2021, a growth of 27 percent compared to 2020, with non-oil exports increasing by 33 percent and surpassing a value of Dhs354 billion for the first time in the country’s history, he said in conclusion.

Meanwhile, Dubai real estate market recorded 336 sales transactions worth Dhs995.74 million and mortgage deals of Dhs81.04 million, in addition to 8 gift transactions amounting to Dhs46.39 million Tuesday, data released by the emirate’s Land Department (DLD) showed.

The sales included 282 villas and apartments worth Dhs619.88 million, and 54 land plots worth Dhs375.86 million, while the mortgages included 47 villas and apartments worthDhs 68.47 million and 8 land plots valued at Dhs12.56 million, bringing the total realty transactions of today to over Dhs1.1b.

Meanwhile, on occasion of the celebration of the month of the artisan, Peruvian representatives of this art arrived in the United Arab Emirates to offer various workshops in order to contribute to the economic reactivation, preservation and sustainable development of the tourism sector, as announced by the Commission for the Promotion of Peru for Exports and Tourism (PROMPERÚ).

Likewise, the Peru Pavilion presented “Abayat Peru”, an exhibition dedicated to Peruvian design and fashion.

Throughout the Expo Dubai, Peru has remembered and celebrated the artistic, gastronomic and architectural expressions inherited centuries ago by the Arab World. In order to honor this cultural relationship, Peruvian designer José Miguel Valdivia and Leandrina Bernal, a traditional master embroiderer, have joined forces and created a collection of abayas made with fine Peruvian cotton that highlights the outstanding embroidering from Colca, Arequipa.

Artisans from the regions of Pucallpa, Junín, Arequipa, Ayacucho and Piura, selected by the Peruvian Vice Ministry of Tourism, offered workshops in order to promote exports and receptive tourism, spreading the rich multicultural identity of Peru at Expo 2020 Dubai, the most important cultural event in the world.

Leidy Martínez presented the impressive geometric designs that characterize the traditional ceramics of the Shipibo-Konibo people, a thousand-year-old legacy of the Peruvian Amazon; Irma Poma taught the techniques to engrave “mates”, an ancient art that allows popular stories to be carved in the fruits of the pumpkins; and Venuca Evanan Vivanco, who shared information about the picturesque Sarhua table.

n the other hand, Bernardino Arce, an artisan from Arequipa, offered his knowledge in ceramics combining ancestral and innovative techniques in ethnic and contemporary designs; Jorge Luis Fernández demonstrated the potential of Cataquense jewelry thanks to his mastery in the use of filigree, and David Pimentel Quispe, shared his experience in backstrap looms, the Peruvian style of weaving dating back from the Inca Empire.

Traditional handicrafts are part of the National Strategy for the Reactivation of the Tourism Sector: Peruvian artisans play a fundamental role in the preservation of the cultural heritage of Peru. Their art should be spread throughout the world in order to contribute to the sustainable development of the Peruvian people.