Whether scribbled in minute scale, expansively painted, crafted out of bent bronze or telling a story in folded artists’ books, text has long remained a major — albeit receding — element of modern and contemporary Middle Eastern art.
Curiously, this feature is having a moment, as it is under the spotlight of two exhibitions, running simultaneously in London at SOAS's Brunei Gallery, and the British Museum. The shows, each curated by pioneers in the field, span three generations of artists from the Islamic world.
At Brunei Gallery, The Future of Traditions, Writing Pictures: Contemporary Art from the Middle East traces a chronology of the subject. It is co-curated by SOAS's own Bob Annibale and Rose Issa, the latter having explored the subject since her work at London’s Kufa Gallery in the 1980s. Meanwhile, at the British Museum, Venetia Porter’s Artists Making Books: Poetry to Politics comprises the artists’ books Porter collected for the museum, which she left after more than 30 years last December.
“Lettering was the aesthetic of the Iranians and the Arabs in the late 1950s and '60s that changed the direction and the trajectory of the art scene,” says Issa, who co-authored a book on calligraphy titled Signs of Our Times: From Calligraphy to Calligraffiti in 2016.
“After I published Signs of Our Times, I thought everybody would jump to do an exhibition, to remind themselves what an important aesthetic lettering was for the region, for Iranians, Arabs and many other cultures. It’s not just calligraphy. In this show out of 38 artists, only four of them are calligraphers. The rest of them are people who love the morphology of the letter, the shape of it, the aesthetic of it.”
A vast show spread across the Brunei Gallery’s three floors, the exhibition begins with early experiments with Arabic and Persian lettering in the 1950s, by artists such as Nja Mahdaoui from Tunisia, Mohammed Ehsai from Iran, and Maliheh Afnan, from Palestine and Iran. From their explorations on canvas, one can watch the subject unfurl, turned into graphic lettering by Mouneer Al-Shaarani, artists’ books by Etel Adnan and even stone sculptures by the Kurdish artist Walid Siti.
Yet, while the importance of early Iranian experiments is well-documented, that of the hurufiyya movement in Iraq feels somewhat absent, which is an omission in such a historical survey.
Like much of Issa’s curating, this is a show that revels in beauty, with history and politics not far behind. Fathi Hassan creates colourful, almost folkloric renditions of Arabic letters — which seem to jump and dance in relation to each other, untethered by lines or the need to combine to create meaning. For the Upper Egyptian artist, the dismembered letters reflect on the loss of Arabic under colonialism.
Elsewhere, in comparison to the predominance of the two-dimensional canvas, sculptural forms are particularly striking, such as Said Baalbaki’s twisted “La”, or “no”, made out of bronze and fashioned to look like a leather belt crossed over itself — a double-edged image of constriction.
Reflecting the intimacy of language, other works are inspired by personal events. A series of 45 small bronzes by Susan Hefuna reads “Patience is Beautiful” — a reference, says Issa, to the fact Hefuna, now an internationally renowned artist, only began to achieve success at the age of 45.
The art of artists' books
A few blocks away, at the British Museum, Porter's show dives deeper into one of the forms touched on by Issa: the artist's book, a medium that arose in the 20th century and became hugely influential in the Middle East. These take various forms, from hand-drawn unique works to books produced in limited editions, those made in lithographs or etched and even sculptural renditions.
Porter divides her show of more than 40 books into five key themes: the mixing of traditions, poetry, conflict, histories and Arabian Nights. The last carefully examines not only how artists were inspired by that famous book, but on how the stars and the night sky have been used to guide migrants both literally and figuratively.
The Iranian-American artist Ala Ebtekar, for example, has made a deep-blue book pierced with stars by exposing pages featuring Isaac Asimov’s short story Nightfall — treated with light-reactive chemicals — to the night sky, which acts both as a memory of the past and as a means to capture the present.
The portability and fragility of the books, which could be folded up and packed away, provide a reminder of the ubiquity of conflict, migration and exile throughout the region in the 20th century.
The Iraqi artist Mahmoud Obaidi created small suitcases in which he placed his scrapbooks, in the poignantly titled Compact Home 7 (2015). Mohammed Omar Khalil, from Sudan, responds in a series of minute etchings to Tayeb Salih’s Season of Migration to the North, a novel that chronicles the loss and displacement of trying to exist in two worlds at once. In his tight, careful script and illustrations, Khalil summons Salih’s portrayal of the heroic self-control of men estranged from their surroundings.
The show is a delight, despite the fact artists’ books can be notoriously difficult to exhibit in a public setting. Designed for perusal, they often feel cut off behind the vitrines' panes of glass, with text too small for the audience to read, and the intimacy of the artists’ hand-done illustrations and writing seen only at a distance.
However, the British Museum has chosen to reproduce many of the poems, which allows the books' unique equality between the visual and written to come to the fore. The show includes the full text, for example, of Mahmoud Darwish’s The Damascene Collar of the Dove, through which the Syrian artist Issam Kourbaj responds to his country’s civil war — a work and poem worth the trip to the museum alone.
“For me, the magical thing is the interaction between the text and the image,” says Porter, who admits a personal fascination with the medium. “Every artist talks about how their work is not just an illustration of the poem. The artists are working with poets, coming up together with ideas on how to make these books.”
Tradition or a postcolonial choice?
The staging of the two shows is coincidental, but Issa and Porter have collaborated over the years, as when Porter contributed to Signs of Our Times.
Issa and Porter's exhibitions, along with Dia Al Azzawi's retrospective of his artists’ books, called dafatir, at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, have opened a debate over artists' use of lettering as a postcolonial move. Al Azzawi, for example, who is also included in Porter’s show, has suggested that dafatir connects him to the Arab tradition of manuscripts and performed poetry — unlike imported media such as painting or sculpture from the West.
Similarly, for Issa, artists’ use of text speaks of an authenticity to Middle Eastern traditions.
“I wanted references to my culture rather than imitating or having derivative works of the West,” says the Iranian-Lebanese curator of her interest in the form. “I see students from Sharjah who come to London — and they teach them how to put garbage in a plastic bin to be conceptual, while what they did before was much more interesting. To me, I prefer when they refer to their own culture than to be a bad derivative work of the West.”
Both Issa and the curator of Al Azzawi's show, Francesca Leoni, underline this continuity by juxtaposing contemporary text work with pre-modern Islamic artefacts. Issa, for example, sets a blue-glazed Seljuk ewer from SOAS’s permanent collection next to a ceramic work by Manal Al Dowayan, in which she casts scrolls in porcelain (ironically titled Just Paper, from 2019), and various artists' books with richly illustrated manuscripts.
But the emphasis on Arabic and Persian writing has, over the years, come across like typecasting: a recognisably "Arabic" subject that artists from the Arab region feel pigeonholes them in their identity.
While neither of these shows address these concerns, the variety of work — and the works themselves — complicate any easy readings, whether of artists' books as an authentically "Middle Eastern" form, or as one of stereotyping.
When it comes to modern art, the interchange between West and Middle East has been ongoing for decades, without any sharp or binary divide between the two regions. Indeed, the Lebanese Shafic Abboud, who was the first modern artist in the Middle East to make an artists’ book, became acquainted with the form when he was living in Paris, where the tradition of livres d’artistes flourished in the early 20th century.
Likewise, Moroccan artist Farid Belkahia, who explicitly turned his back on the French traditions of the School of Fine Arts of Casablanca in the 1960s, used source material from that country for his own explorations. In his Atours autour (1980, on view at the British Museum), he used a French text, written by the Czech poet Natacha Pavel, which he had translated into Moroccan Arabic for his handwritten version of the text.
While the source material speaks of layers of cultural exchange, Belkahia cites his version of the book in the colour palette of Moroccan folk art, in tawny browns and dark reds.
“These books are many things,” says Porter. "Artists will find different ways to tell their stories."
The Future of Traditions, Writing Pictures:, Contemporary Art from the Middle East is at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, London, until March 25. Artists Making Books: Poetry to Politics is at the British Museum until September 17
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Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
RESULT
Manchester United 1 Brighton and Hove Albion 0
Man United: Dunk (66' og)
Man of the Match: Shane Duffy (Brighton)
Results:
5pm: Baynunah Conditions (UAE bred) Dh80,000 1,400m.
Winner: Al Tiryaq, Dane O’Neill (jockey), Abdullah Al Hammadi (trainer).
5.30pm: Al Zahra Handicap (rated 0-45) Dh 80,000 1,400m:
Winner: Fahadd, Richard Mullen, Ahmed Al Mehairbi.
6pm: Al Ras Al Akhdar Maiden Dh80,000 1,600m.
Winner: Jaahiz, Jesus Rosales, Eric Lemartinel.
6.30pm: Al Reem Island Handicap Dh90,000 1,600m.
Winner: AF Al Jahed, Antonio Fresu, Ernst Oertel.
7pm: Al Khubairah Handicap (TB) 100,000 2,200m.
Winner: Empoli, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
7.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap Dh80,000 2,200m.
Winner: Shivan OA, Patrick Cosgrave, Helal Al Alawi.
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder MHEV
Power: 360bhp
Torque: 500Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Price: from Dh282,870
On sale: now
Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
Wydad 2 Urawa 3
Wydad Nahiri 21’, Hajhouj 90'
Urawa Antonio 18’, 60’, Kashiwagi 26’
Honeymoonish
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
South Africa squad
: Faf du Plessis (captain), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (wkt), Theunis de Bruyn, AB de Villiers, Dean Elgar, Heinrich Klaasen (wkt), Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Duanne Olivier, Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada.
England's lowest Test innings
- 45 v Australia in Sydney, January 28, 1887
- 46 v West Indies in Port of Spain, March 25, 1994
- 51 v West Indies in Kingston, February 4, 2009
- 52 v Australia at The Oval, August 14, 1948
- 53 v Australia at Lord's, July 16, 1888
- 58 v New Zealand in Auckland, March 22, 2018
The biog
Name: James Mullan
Nationality: Irish
Family: Wife, Pom; and daughters Kate, 18, and Ciara, 13, who attend Jumeirah English Speaking School (JESS)
Favourite book or author: “That’s a really difficult question. I’m a big fan of Donna Tartt, The Secret History. I’d recommend that, go and have a read of that.”
Dream: “It would be to continue to have fun and to work with really interesting people, which I have been very fortunate to do for a lot of my life. I just enjoy working with very smart, fun people.”
The story in numbers
18
This is how many recognised sects Lebanon is home to, along with about four million citizens
450,000
More than this many Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with about 45 per cent of them living in the country’s 12 refugee camps
1.5 million
There are just under 1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UN, although the government puts the figure upwards of 1.5m
73
The percentage of stateless people in Lebanon, who are not of Palestinian origin, born to a Lebanese mother, according to a 2012-2013 study by human rights organisation Frontiers Ruwad Association
18,000
The number of marriages recorded between Lebanese women and foreigners between the years 1995 and 2008, according to a 2009 study backed by the UN Development Programme
77,400
The number of people believed to be affected by the current nationality law, according to the 2009 UN study
4,926
This is how many Lebanese-Palestinian households there were in Lebanon in 2016, according to a census by the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue committee
MATCH INFO
Europa League semi-final, second leg
Atletico Madrid (1) v Arsenal (1)
Where: Wanda Metropolitano
When: Thursday, May 3
Live: On BeIN Sports HD
MATCH INFO
Europa League final
Who: Marseille v Atletico Madrid
Where: Parc OL, Lyon, France
When: Wednesday, 10.45pm kick off (UAE)
TV: BeIN Sports
From Conquest to Deportation
Jeronim Perovic, Hurst
Try out the test yourself
Q1 Suppose you had $100 in a savings account and the interest rate was 2 per cent per year. After five years, how much do you think you would have in the account if you left the money to grow?
a) More than $102
b) Exactly $102
c) Less than $102
d) Do not know
e) Refuse to answer
Q2 Imagine that the interest rate on your savings account was 1 per cent per year and inflation was 2 per cent per year. After one year, how much would you be able to buy with the money in this account?
a) More than today
b) Exactly the same as today
c) Less than today
d) Do not know
e) Refuse to answer
Q4 Do you think that the following statement is true or false? “Buying a single company stock usually provides a safer return than a stock mutual fund.”
a) True
b) False
d) Do not know
e) Refuse to answer
The “Big Three” financial literacy questions were created by Professors Annamaria Lusardi of the George Washington School of Business and Olivia Mitchell, of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Answers: Q1 More than $102 (compound interest). Q2 Less than today (inflation). Q3 False (diversification).
Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters
The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.
Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.
A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.
The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.
The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.
Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.
Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment
But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.
Ticket prices
General admission Dh295 (under-three free)
Buy a four-person Family & Friends ticket and pay for only three tickets, so the fourth family member is free
Buy tickets at: wbworldabudhabi.com/en/tickets
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HEY%20MERCEDES%2C%20WHAT%20CAN%20YOU%20DO%20FOR%20ME%3F
%3Cp%3EMercedes-Benz's%20MBUX%20digital%20voice%20assistant%2C%20Hey%20Mercedes%2C%20allows%20users%20to%20set%20up%20commands%20for%3A%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Navigation%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Calls%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20In-car%20climate%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Ambient%20lighting%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Media%20controls%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Driver%20assistance%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20General%20inquiries%20such%20as%20motor%20data%2C%20fuel%20consumption%20and%20next%20service%20schedule%2C%20and%20even%20funny%20questions%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EThere's%20also%20a%20hidden%20feature%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20pressing%20and%20holding%20the%20voice%20command%20button%20on%20the%20steering%20wheel%20activates%20the%20voice%20assistant%20on%20a%20connected%20smartphone%20%E2%80%93%20Siri%20on%20Apple's%20iOS%20or%20Google%20Assistant%20on%20Android%20%E2%80%93%20enabling%20a%20user%20to%20command%20the%20car%20even%20without%20Apple%20CarPlay%20or%20Android%20Auto%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE squad
Ali Kashief, Salem Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdelrahman, Mohammed Al Attas (Al Jazira), Mohmmed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammad Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Eisa, Mohammed Shakir, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Adel Al Hosani, Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah), Waleed Abbas, Ismail Al Hammadi, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli Dubai) Habib Fardan, Tariq Ahmed, Mohammed Al Akbari (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Mahrami (Baniyas)
WORLD CUP SEMI-FINALS
England v New Zealand
(Saturday, 12pm UAE)
Wales v South Africa
(Sunday, 12pm, UAE)
MATCH INFO
Rugby World Cup (all times UAE)
Third-place play-off: New Zealand v Wales, Friday, 1pm
MATCH INFO
Inter Milan 2 (Vecino 65', Barella 83')
Verona 1 (Verre 19' pen)
Explainer: Tanween Design Programme
Non-profit arts studio Tashkeel launched this annual initiative with the intention of supporting budding designers in the UAE. This year, three talents were chosen from hundreds of applicants to be a part of the sixth creative development programme. These are architect Abdulla Al Mulla, interior designer Lana El Samman and graphic designer Yara Habib.
The trio have been guided by experts from the industry over the course of nine months, as they developed their own products that merge their unique styles with traditional elements of Emirati design. This includes laboratory sessions, experimental and collaborative practice, investigation of new business models and evaluation.
It is led by British contemporary design project specialist Helen Voce and mentor Kevin Badni, and offers participants access to experts from across the world, including the likes of UK designer Gareth Neal and multidisciplinary designer and entrepreneur, Sheikh Salem Al Qassimi.
The final pieces are being revealed in a worldwide limited-edition release on the first day of Downtown Designs at Dubai Design Week 2019. Tashkeel will be at stand E31 at the exhibition.
Lisa Ball-Lechgar, deputy director of Tashkeel, said: “The diversity and calibre of the applicants this year … is reflective of the dynamic change that the UAE art and design industry is witnessing, with young creators resolute in making their bold design ideas a reality.”
NYBL PROFILE
Company name: Nybl
Date started: November 2018
Founder: Noor Alnahhas, Michael LeTan, Hafsa Yazdni, Sufyaan Abdul Haseeb, Waleed Rifaat, Mohammed Shono
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Software Technology / Artificial Intelligence
Initial investment: $500,000
Funding round: Series B (raising $5m)
Partners/Incubators: Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 4, Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 6, AI Venture Labs Cohort 1, Microsoft Scale-up
MATCH INFO
Qalandars 109-3 (10ovs)
Salt 30, Malan 24, Trego 23, Jayasuriya 2-14
Bangla Tigers (9.4ovs)
Fletcher 52, Rossouw 31
Bangla Tigers win by six wickets
MATCH INFO
Liverpool 2 (Van Dijk 18', 24')
Brighton 1 (Dunk 79')
Red card: Alisson (Liverpool)
Results
6.30pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
Winner: Celtic Prince, David Liska (jockey), Rashed Bouresly (trainer).
7.05pm: Conditions Dh240,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Commanding, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
7.40pm: Handicap Dh190,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Grand Argentier, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
8.15pm: Handicap Dh170,000 (D) 2,200m
Winner: Arch Gold, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson.
8.50pm: The Entisar Listed Dh265,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Military Law, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi.
9.25pm: The Garhoud Sprint Listed Dh265,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Ibn Malik, Dane O’Neill, Musabah Al Muhairi.
10pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Midnight Sands, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
If you go…
Emirates launched a new daily service to Mexico City this week, flying via Barcelona from Dh3,995.
Emirati citizens are among 67 nationalities who do not require a visa to Mexico. Entry is granted on arrival for stays of up to 180 days.
Results
3pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,400m, Winner: Lancienegaboulevard, Adrie de Vries (jockey), Fawzi Nass (trainer).
3.35pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Turf) 1,600m, Winner: Al Mukhtar Star, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass.
4.10pm: Handicap Dh165,000 (D) 2,000m, Winner: Gundogdu, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.
4.45pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (T) 1,200m, Winner: Speedy Move, Sean Kirrane, Satish Seemar.
5.20pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (D) 1,600m, Winner: Moqarrar, Dane O’Neill, Erwan Charpy.
5.55pm: Handicap Dh175,000 (T) 1,800m, Winner: Dolman, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
Result
2.15pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,950m; Winner: Majestic Thunder, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Satish Seemar (trainer).
2.45pm: Handicap Dh80,000 1,800m; Winner: Tailor’s Row, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
3.15pm: Handicap Dh85,000 1,600m; Winner: Native Appeal, Adam McLean, Doug Watson.
3.45pm: Handicap Dh115,000 1,950m; Winner: Conclusion, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi.
4.15pm: Handicap Dh100,000 1,400m; Winner: Pilgrim’s Treasure, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar.
4.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,400m; Winner: Sanad Libya, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
5.15pm: Handicap Dh90,000 1,000m; Winner: Midlander, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
Why your domicile status is important
Your UK residence status is assessed using the statutory residence test. While your residence status – ie where you live - is assessed every year, your domicile status is assessed over your lifetime.
Your domicile of origin generally comes from your parents and if your parents were not married, then it is decided by your father. Your domicile is generally the country your father considered his permanent home when you were born.
UK residents who have their permanent home ("domicile") outside the UK may not have to pay UK tax on foreign income. For example, they do not pay tax on foreign income or gains if they are less than £2,000 in the tax year and do not transfer that gain to a UK bank account.
A UK-domiciled person, however, is liable for UK tax on their worldwide income and gains when they are resident in the UK.
Race card
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m
5.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m
6pm: Arabian Triple Crown Round-2 Group 3 (PA) Dh300,000 2,200m
6.30pm: Liwa Oaisi Group 2 (PA) Dh300,000 1,400m
7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 1,600m
7.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 1,600m
The National selections: 5pm: Flit Al Maury, 5.30pm: Sadah, 6pm: RB Seqondtonone, 6.30pm: RB Money To Burn, 7pm: SS Jalmood, 7.30pm: Dalaalaat
Other ways to buy used products in the UAE
UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.
Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.
Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.
For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.
Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.
At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.
UPI facts
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
