At the crossroads of the world: Why the UAE remains a global meeting ground

The UAE often feels that the very centre of the world, both as a key travel hub and as a welcoming place for great minds to meet on issues from technology to sport. It’s rare that a week goes by without some form of global summit taking place at the moment, whether it be in Abu Dhabi or Dubai. At Gulf News, we try to get to the key events that will be of most importance to you, our readers, as we know we can’t cover absolutely everything at such busy times. This week, the team has been at Gulfood, which has become so big that it was across two sites this year, and then we are straight into the World Government Summit.

Leaders from across the world will be in Dubai to discuss the biggest issues facing us all right now, from improving human wellbeing across the globe to the AI race and its impact. It’s fair to say that it comes at an interesting time with conflict resolution, political stability and technological advancements high on many agendas. Having influential people from across the globe in one room to talk about the future always seems like a good idea, but perhaps the timing of this event is particularly helpful. We will be at Madinat Jumeirah to break the news as it happens, to interview those speaking at the event and to offer analysis on the hottest topics.

Talking about international relationships, the friendship between India and the EU was strengthened this week with the ‘mother of all’ trade deals that will hopefully bring further prosperity to many nations. In another well-timed event, Gulf News’ CEO, Vijay Vaghela, and I also had the honour of attending the 77th India Republic Day reception at The Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi. Ambassador Deepak Mittal gave an impressive and passionate speech about the historic ties between the countries and the promising future of the two growing economies. The diversity of the crowd was yet another reminder of how the UAE also brings people together from around the globe in celebration.

Sticking to the global event theme, I spent last weekend at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic surrounded by many expats and tourists - and what a weekend it was. It was a pleasure seeing the team at Emirates, who looked after me on the Saturday, before I followed Tommy Fleetwood around the course with my son and friends. There are few sports where you can get so close to the action. You can listen in as the pros discuss club and distance choices and you can feel the body language change from shot to shot. My son also enjoyed high-fiving Tommy, who was brilliant with the kids, after each hole. I highly recommend going to one of the big golf tournaments that take place here, even if you’re not a sports fan, to soak in the atmosphere and you can get a lot of your steps in at the same time.

I must admit that I could feel myself falling in love with the sport over the majestic Emirates Golf Club course and I started dreaming of standing on those tees and drilling a ball 300 yards down a fairway. Maybe Tommy made it look a bit too easy. I’ll get myself to a driving range and practice my shouts of ‘fore!’.