{"id":42090,"date":"2019-12-27T03:22:35","date_gmt":"2019-12-27T03:22:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=42090"},"modified":"2019-12-27T03:22:35","modified_gmt":"2019-12-27T03:22:35","slug":"egypt-to-reopen-historic-jewish-synagogue-in-january","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=42090","title":{"rendered":"Egypt to reopen historic Jewish synagogue in January"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nABU DHABI: From China\u2019s emergence to the need for smart cities, the Middle East is well placed to benefit from what the future holds, according to a number of experts who attended the region\u2019s first SALT Conference, held recently in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n

\nTheir verdict chimes in with the remarks made by the UAE\u2019s Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future Mohammed Al-Gergawi in his opening speech at Dubai\u2019s Arab Strategy Forum earlier this month, where he spoke of the possibility of a \u201cbright future,\u201d provided Arab states take advantage of upcoming opportunities.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cOur region still has an increasing strategic importance and possesses huge human potential,\u201d said Al-Gergawi, who noted that more than 100 million Arab youth were predicted to enter the labor market over the next 10 years.<\/p>\n

\n

\nQUESTIONS FOR THE FUTURE<\/span><\/strong>
\n<\/h4>\n
\n
\n

\n\u25cf Can OPEC survive in a decarbonizing world economy?<\/p>\n

\n\u25cf Will economic sanctions lead to Iran regime collapse?<\/p>\n

\n\u25cf Will nuclear proliferation accelerate?<\/p>\n

\n\u25cf Will water scarcity heighten security risks for the Middle East and North Africa?<\/p>\n

\n\u25cf Will gas fields off the Cyprus-Lebanon-Egypt coasts promote regional stability?<\/p>\n

\n\u25cf Will countries fragment in the 21st century?<\/p>\n

\n\u25cf Is US dominance in military, economic and other spheres weakening?<\/p>\n

\n\u25cf Will US-China tech conflicts become opportunities for collaboration?<\/p>\n

\n\u25cf Will the world trade system survive the populist trend?<\/p>\n

\n\u25cf Are the world\u2019s major economies increasingly vulnerable to cyber warfare?<\/p>\n

\n\u25cf Will steady growth with brief downturns define the global business cycle?<\/p>\n

\nSource:<\/strong> Good Judgment and Arab Strategy Forum<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\nParag Khanna, managing partner of FutureMap, a data and scenario-based strategic global advisory firm, used the term \u201cWest Asia\u201d to describe the Middle East while discussing the region\u2019s prospects in the context of the Asian growth story.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cIf this collection of countries in Asia, such as Pakistan and India, grow at just 5 percent, (they will have) a combined GDP equal to China\u2019s present GDP in less than 10 years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\nAmong the key drivers of Asian financial growth and reform identified by Khanna are savings and consumption, local currency liquidity, capital-account liberalization, and purchasing-power parity.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cAsia has been getting a lot of things right in economic and structural reforms. What Japan and South Korea have already done, and China is doing with its capital account, means a lot of countries want to do that too and manage their balance of payments. This copycat effect is going to continue to play out,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe are currently living in a tripolar economic world, with North America, Europe and Asia standing as very important pillars today.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe mobility of people and the growing mobility of capital are going hand in hand. In the last 15 years, China accelerated (the pace of) its outbound investments into infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe regions that have benefited the most from Chinese outbound investments are Europe, Africa, West Asia, East Asia and the Middle East and North Africa, namely Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt,\u201d said Khanna.<\/p>\n

\nReferring to China\u2019s One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative, he pointed out that the trend it represented was irreversible, adding that the regions that belonged together in the \u201cSilk Road\u201d spirit were going to continue to reconnect no matter what.<\/p>\n

\nToday, the UAE is China\u2019s largest trading partner and is increasing its trade with Southeast (and South Asia), particularly India.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cIn terms of the geography of the UAE and Abu Dhabi, when historians talk about the ancient Silk Roads and the pre-colonial world, (we talk about) Afro-Eurasia,\u201d Khanna added. \u201cIt captures Africa, Europe and Asia \u2013 and the 16th-century world was Afro-Eurasia.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWhat\u2019s happening today is the resurrection of this Afro-Eurasian system. So, there couldn\u2019t be a better time to be based in the UAE and looking multi-directionally into how to be a connector and a bridge between these three very important demographic and economic regions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nIn his remarks at the future-focused Arab Strategic Forum, Al-Gergawi had also posed the crucial question: In which direction are (Arab) countries heading?<\/p>\n

\nThe answer, strictly from the standpoint of urban development, is smart cities.<\/p>\n

\nConceptually, a smart city integrates information and communication technology and various physical devices connected to the Internet of Things (IoT) network to optimize the efficiency of different operations and services and connect to citizens.<\/p>\n

\nIn recent years, interest in smart cities has grown in tandem with technological, economic and environmental changes such as the shift toward online retail and entertainment, climate change, greying societies, urban population growth, and pressures on public finances.<\/p>\n

\nWith 60 percent of the global population \u2013 or 5.5 billion people \u2013 expected to live in cities by 2050, a gradual move over to smart cities is inevitable, according to Thomas Bardawil, director at Plug and Play Smart Cities.<\/p>\n

\n\"\"
\nA $16 billion high-speed railway linking Makkah and Madinah highlights major changes in the \u2018mobility industry\u2019 as technology drives the
rise of smart cities. (AFP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\nHowever, the way cities have been built, reflected in current levels of traffic, pollution and property prices, is \u201cunsustainable,\u201d said Bardawil. \u201cWe are not changing to smart cities because we think it\u2019s cool. We are changing because we have to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nIn an interview with Arab News on the sidelines of the SALT Conference, Bardawil said that Europe, with its built infrastructure, did not hold as much promise in regard to smart-city development as the Middle East did with its vast swathes of unused land.<\/p>\n

\nSo, cities in the GCC region, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, are where he expects to see some of the first smart cities emerge, as well as in China, where \u201cpromising\u201d work is currently underway.<\/p>\n

\nBardawil cited three industries that he works closely with as part of the value chain of a smart city and essential for its development: mobility, energy and real estate.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThere is a big shift in the mobility industry and new generations don\u2019t seem to want to own cars anymore. So, we see mobility as a service becoming a major disruptor of the mobility industry, specifically for car manufacturers.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThey will not be about producing cars anymore. Rather they will be about how they can move cars around in the most efficient way possible,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\nAs far as energy was concerned, a revolution was happening in the industry at the moment, and Bardawil said: \u201cProducing one kilowatt of renewable energy today practically costs as much as producing it with traditional energy sources. The marginal cost of producing renewable energy is close to zero, with solar and wind.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cSo, we see that everyone is going to be producing their own green energy and then sharing this energy with networks. People will be buying and selling energy off the grid.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cIn a nutshell, it will bypass all these vertically integrated energy companies and all those middlemen that kept us from connecting to each other, and this is what we call \u2018power to the people.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\nAs people\u2019s lifestyles evolved under the influence of sustainability, industries such as real estate would have to follow suit, Bardawil added. And with less human interaction thanks to innovation, he expected new technologies centered on the community as well as mixed-use buildings to gain ground.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe build an ecosystem for innovation. We bring all the players together to connect them and provide them with information and the best practices because, at the end of the day, it\u2019s about the knowledge.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe need startups, governments, regulators and corporations, but it\u2019s about doing it as a team. It\u2019s all about the network.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nBardawil pointed out that the construction of more efficient, resistant, sustainable and safe buildings using wood would soon be a reality.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe are working on technology startups to actually make wood smart,\u201d he said. \u201cA smart city is one that has been thoroughly thought-out to be efficient, sustainable and able to adapt to the growing population, without having to compromise on the well-being of its people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ABU DHABI: From China\u2019s emergence to the need for smart cities, the Middle East is well placed to benefit from what the future holds, according to a number of experts who attended the region\u2019s first SALT Conference, held recently in Abu Dhabi. Their verdict chimes in with the remarks made by the UAE\u2019s Minister of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":42091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}