Abu Dhabi // Saqr Ghobash, the Minister of Labour, heads a high-level delegation to the International Labour Organisation's annual conference starting today in Geneva, where delegates will discuss an emergency "global jobs pact".
This year's International Labour Conference, which runs until June 19, will look at ways to limit the fallout from the global economic crisis on the world's labour market. Juan Somavia, the ILO director-general, has called for "swift and bold action" to prevent a lingering jobs crisis.
In a grim report issued last week, the ILO revised its predictions for global unemployment rates in 2009. In the worst-case scenario it sees a global unemployment rate as high as 7.4 per cent, with 239 million people unemployed - an increase of 59 million people on 2007 levels.
"We are seeing an unprecedented increase in unemployment and the number of workers at risk of falling into poverty around the world this year," said Mr Somavia.
"This is cause for grave concern. To avoid a global social recession we need a global jobs pact to address this crisis, and mitigate its effects on people."
The pact would be a cohesive strategy to deal with labour-market issues globally, putting job creation and protection at the heart of economic stimulus packages. If this was not done, the recovery of the job market could lag behind an economic rebound by four or five years, the ILO has said.
The organisation predicts that the Middle East will be hit hard by job losses this year, with unemployment rising by up to 25 per cent compared with 2007.
"This is why the... conference is considering a global jobs pact aimed at placing employment creation and social protection at the centre of recovery policies," Mr Somavia said.
Mr Ghobash is accompanied by a group of 20 representatives from the UAE, including Humaid bin Deemas, the acting director general at the ministry, and Obaid Salem al Zaabi, the UAE's permanent representative at the UN's European headquarters.
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Profile of Bitex UAE
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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England World Cup squad
Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wkt), Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Vince, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
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