Palestinian-American actor and comedian Mo Amer and Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki will participate in this year’s International Congress of Arabic & Creative Industries, taking place at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on September 14 and 15.
They will be joined by Tunisian actress Hend Sabry, and a number of other content creators, technologists and policymakers to discuss future opportunities and challenges in telling stories from the Arab world. Entry is free upon registration.
Organised by the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre, part of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, the congress will look at how artificial intelligence is reshaping regional creative industries with sessions focusing on how it enhances storytelling and audience development, preserves heritage and sparks new forms of creative entrepreneurship.
Also part of the programme is a panel looking at how to maintain the appeal of Arabic language for future generations.
Following core strands focusing on industry capacity building and a showcase of youth creative projects, the event will also feature exhibition stands and representatives from companies including Google, Meta, Snap Inc and TikTok.
It will mark the return of the Innovation Awards – a competition encouraging students to pitch ideas to promote the Arabic language.
“This year’s Congress of Arabic & Creative Industries marks a bold new chapter in our mission to position Arabic creativity at the forefront of global cultural discourse,” Ali bin Tamim, chairman of Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre, tells The National.
“By convening some of the most dynamic thinkers and creators from the region and beyond, we are not only redefining the narrative around Arabic culture, but also actively shaping the future of storytelling.”
Launched in 2022, the congress has steadily expanded from its focus on publishing to include the state of the creative industries. Last year’s event featured DCT Abu Dhabi chairman Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, who called for a renewed role for the creative sector in education.
“This is an investment of the mind when it comes to school curricula, when it comes to cultural programming in understanding what the Arab world has contributed,” he said. “It is not just about the present and past, but also the future.”
Al Mubarak highlighted the need for new Arabic cultural content to reach younger generations and stressed that the UAE’s growing creative economy, which at the time of the event employed more than 400,000 people and contributed four per cent to the GDP, is already a key driver of that shift.
Egyptian-American economist Mohamed El Erian, also present at last year’s event, praised the UAE’s investments in artificial intelligence as a tool for enhancing rather than replacing creativity. “AI is going to impact every single person,” he said. “But I see that AI will be less of a replacement and more of an enhancer.”
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Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
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