The Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry has finalised preparations for its trade mission to Latin America, which will take place April 15-22 and cover Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. The Chamber will lead a high-level delegation of UAE businessmen, investors, and officials, who will represent a wide range of sectors, including trade, retail, free zones, food processing and logistics. 

The lights are being switched off around the world at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday evening, to mark the 10th annual Earth Hour, and to draw attention to climate change. The initiative began in Australia in 2007 as a grass roots gesture by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Australia against man-made carbon dioxide emissions linked to a warming planet. In 2017, it will involve the switching off of electric lights for an hour in 7,000 cities across 172 countries, at 8:30 p.m.

After meeting with the President of the Republic of Argentina, Mauricio Macri, the Prime Minister of Spain, Mariano Rajoy, said that relations between the two countries “have regained their traditional strength” following the State visit by the Argentine leader. He also committed to making “every effort” to ensure an agreement is reached between the European Union and MERCOSUR.

In the past decade, trade exchange between China and Latin America grew 20-fold to reach 236.5 billion US dollars in 2015, according to the Chinese government, which has free-trade agreements with several regional countries, such as Chile, Peru and Costa Rica. 

The financial world treats Argentina as an emerging market — risky, nascent, unsophisticated — and so does the art world: it has few prominent artists, curators or institutions. But just as the country seduced global investors with a smash-hit bond sale earlier this year, so one Argentine collector is hoping to draw international attention to Buenos Aires with his new foundation.

For fashion entrepreneur Monica Phromsavanh, the pathway to success started in the camp for Laotian refugees in Argentina where she was born and spent her first years. She was a hard charger even as a child, never letting poverty or family difficulties discourage her. She came to the United States at 17, worked for upscale clothing retailers and rose rapidly up the management ladder, helped by mentors impressed by her keen sense of style and business acumen.