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  • The UAE joined the second G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, on 31 August and 1 September 2026.
  • Mohamed bin Hadi Al Hussaini, Minister of State for Financial Affairs, called for closer cooperation on steady growth, government services and future skills.
  • Talks covered the global economy, sovereign debt, digital transformation, and a wider role for the private sector.
  • The UAE showcased its work on government efficiency, ease of doing business, and training national talent for a changing job market.

The UAE at the G20 finance meeting brought a clear message to Asheville: economies grow when people gain new skills. Its Ministry of Finance took part in the second G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors gathering, held in North Carolina on 31 August and 1 September 2026 under the United States G20 Presidency. Behind the formal agenda sat a human question. How do people keep up when the jobs around them change? Talks ranged across the global economy and the outlook for growth, cooperation on digital transformation and skills, sovereign debt, and ways to close wide gaps between economies. Ministers also looked at how private companies can support growth and investment.

What Al Hussaini told the room

Mohamed bin Hadi Al Hussaini, Minister of State for Financial Affairs, urged G20 members to work more closely on steady, balanced growth. He pointed to shared practices in government services and in training for future skills. These steps, he said, help economies stay ready as change speeds up, and help growth reach more people. “The G20 is an important platform for strengthening international cooperation and developing joint solutions to global economic challenges,” Al Hussaini said. He tied that cooperation to human capital, arguing investment in people and future skills builds economies that compete and adapt. Readiness, in his framing, is not abstract. It is whether a nurse, a teacher or a factory worker finds solid ground when their field shifts.

The UAE at the G20 finance meeting and its home record

The UAE at the G20 finance meeting also pointed to its own record at home. Coverage of the UAE G20 finance ministers meeting drew on the country’s work in digital services. The delegation showcased steps in digital transformation and government services, meant to make the state run better and business easier to do. For a small firm owner, ease of doing business is not a slogan. It means time saved and fewer forms. The UAE also presented programmes that train national talent for a fast-moving job market. Young workers, in particular, stand to gain when training keeps pace with what employers need.

G20 finance ministers Asheville talks on debt and growth

When G20 finance ministers met in Asheville, sovereign debt sat high on the list. The UAE at the G20 finance meeting pressed for cooperation on debt, more transparency, and real attention to the needs of emerging and developing economies. Transparency matters here. Clear numbers let lenders and citizens see where money goes. Debt strain rarely stays on a balance sheet. It shows up in clinics, classrooms, and roads that never get built. The G20 finance track 2026 priorities also cover global imbalances and a safer path for digital assets.

Private sector, AI and what comes next

The Asheville sessions brought in private sector voices from banking, advanced manufacturing and digital assets. Talks touched on artificial intelligence in healthcare, where better tools can reach patients who wait too long for care. Participants weighed how technology and new ideas can lift key sectors and the wider financial industry. For the UAE at the G20 finance meeting, the throughline stayed the same. Growth means little unless people can share in it, and digital transformation and future skills give them the means to do so.

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Apple's iPhone Duo

The iPhone Duo is Apple’s first foldable iPhone, and it opens like a small book into a 7.6-inch screen. Closed, you hold a 5.4-inch outer display that fits in a pocket. Both screens share the same aspect ratio, so a video or app scales cleanly as you move between them. Stand it up on a table, and it works hands-free for calls or video. Apple showed the phone on September 9 at its Surprise and Shine event in Cupertino, where new chief executive John Ternus led his first keynote. He said rival foldables often feel like two phones stuck together. The Duo tries to feel like one device that changes size when you need it.

What the screens and camera can do

Open the Duo and the inner display runs 50 percent larger than the iPhone 18 Pro Max. A custom nano-texture finish cuts glare and hides the crease, the seam that has annoyed foldable owners for years. Peak brightness reaches 3000 nits, so the screen stays readable outdoors. Inside, an under-display FaceTime camera keeps the view whole, with no notch breaking the screen. The rear camera leans on a 48MP Dual Fusion system with a main and an ultra-wide lens. There is no telephoto, a trade Apple made to save room in the thin body. Smart Take reads the scene and snaps the photo when everyone poses, so you can stand in the shot instead of behind it. You can also shoot 48MP photos and 4K video at up to 120 frames per second.

iPhone Duo specs that matter for daily use

The iPhone Duo specs point to a phone built for long, heavy days. Inside sits the A20 Pro chip with a vapor chamber that spreads heat during games and video edits. Apple pairs it with a dual-battery design that fits more cells into the frame. You get up to 31 hours of video on the inner screen and up to 44 hours on the outer one. Plug it in, and it reaches 50 percent in about 20 minutes. A Grade 5 titanium frame and a precision hinge give the body its strength, and Touch ID moves to the side button in place of Face ID.

iPhone Duo prices are ridiculously high

Here is the part your wallet cares about. The iPhone Duo price starts at $1,999 for 256GB in the United States, which makes it the most expensive iPhone in the lineup. In the UAE, iPhone Duo starts at AED 8,499 for the 256 GB, AED 9,349 for the 512 GB, AED 11,049 for the 1 TB, and the laptop-price level of AED 13,599 for the 2 TB. Preorders open October 16, and the iPhone Duo release date lands on October 23. Apple plans a first wave across more than 70 countries, then adds 28 more on October 30. For comparison, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 starts near $1,899.

Why the foldable iPhone arrives only now

Apple waited years while Samsung and others sold foldables. Now the foldable iPhone brings iOS 27 features built for two screens, like Split View and apps that respond to how you hold the phone. eSIM handles the connection, since there is no SIM tray anywhere. Apple Pencil support arrives later in 2026. That gap of a few weeks after the iPhone 18 Pro points to a slower, careful rollout for a harder build. If you have wanted a phone that turns into a small tablet without feeling clumsy, this is Apple’s answer, and you can hold one this month.

Work from Park initiative

The Work from Park initiative puts bookable workspaces inside Dubai’s public parks, starting with Al Barsha Pond Park. Dubai Municipality announced the programme on 19 April 2026 and said it had signed two memoranda of cooperation to deliver it. One went to Group AMANA, which builds the units, and the other to Letswork LLC, which operates them.

Entrepreneurs, freelancers, small and medium-sized enterprises

The structure is a public-private partnership. Dubai Municipality provides the park and the mandate. Private firms handle design, construction, and daily operation. The municipality said the model gives the private sector a route into public facilities while each site keeps its role as a park.

Target users are entrepreneurs, freelancers, small and medium-sized enterprises, and anyone doing remote work in Dubai. Content creators get dedicated production rooms, which the municipality said are meant to strengthen their place in the emirate’s creative economy.

Letswork runs the booking side. Users reserve space through the Letswork app, check in on arrival and use one membership across the company’s network of venues. The offer covers desks by the hour, event space, podcast recording and production rooms for creators. Letswork will also run training programmes and group sessions for creative talent and new businesses.

How the Work from Park initiative is built

Group AMANA delivers the first site through its DuBox unit. DuBox builds the workspace modules in a factory, then transports them to the park and assembles them on site. The municipality said this shortens the build schedule, reduces waste and lowers the environmental footprint compared with conventional construction. Units can be reconfigured later as demand shifts.

The Al Barsha Pond Park site was scheduled to open in May 2026. Letswork now lists it as a bookable venue on its platform. The listing describes modular pods with high-speed Wi-Fi, power and climate-controlled seating, plus podcast studios and creative production rooms. Members can book day passes, meeting rooms and private offices under one Letswork membership.

Dubai Municipality said the Work from Park initiative would add more sites across the emirate later in 2026. Locations and opening dates for those have yet to be confirmed.

Bader Anwahi, CEO of the Public Facilities Agency at Dubai Municipality, said the partnerships combine advanced construction methods with private sector expertise to produce public infrastructure “that is flexible, sustainable, and aligned with modern lifestyles and work patterns.”

Richard Abboud, CEO of Group AMANA, said modular construction lets the company build efficient, adaptable units at speed.

Why the Work from Park initiative fits Dubai’s planning goals

The programme sits under three policy frameworks. Dubai’s 2040 Parks and Greenery Strategy targets 95 million park visits a year by 2040. Land use falls under the Dubai Urban Plan 2040. Economic targets through 2033 come from the Dubai Economic Agenda D33.

Omar AlMheiri, co-founder of Letswork, said the partnership would add dedicated creative spaces and podcast studios. He described it as a step toward changing where and how people in the UAE do flexible work.

Dubai Municipality describes the Work from Park initiative as the first of its kind. Existing Dubai coworking spaces operate from office towers, hotels and retail sites. This programme moves the format onto municipal parkland, with the municipality as host and a private platform as operator.

Outdoor workspaces in Dubai face one obvious constraint: summer heat. The Letswork listing addresses this with climate-controlled seating inside the pods. Demand across a full year of operation will show whether the format holds. The second site, once announced, will be the next signal of how fast the municipality intends to scale.

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