The 36th edition of the Sharjah Ramadan Festival 2026 will begin on Sunday, February 15, bringing with it a wide-ranging programme of shopping promotions, cultural initiatives and community-driven events across the emirate.

Organised by the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the festival will run until March 25, featuring participation from major shopping malls, retail outlets, and a broad mix of local and international brands. Productive families, entrepreneurs and small-business owners will also take part, according to a WAM report.

Read more-Ramadan in Dubai 2026: Fireworks, festivals and 30 nights of celebrations

The festival will be staged across all cities and regions of Sharjah, including the Central and Eastern regions, with strong backing from local government entities and private sector partners.

‘Ramadan Spirit in the Heart of Sharjah’

Held under the theme “Ramadan Spirit in the Heart of Sharjah,” this year’s edition aligns with the UAE’s ‘Year of Family,’ underscoring the Chamber’s commitment to strengthening family bonds and promoting social cohesion.

The festival forms a key pillar of the emirate’s broader Sharjah shopping promotions 2025–2026 campaign, which began on December 1. The campaign features raffle draws, interactive events, promotional discounts and competitions aimed at reinforcing Sharjah’s position as a leading tourism and retail destination during the holy month.

Organisers said the initiative is designed to enhance visitor satisfaction while stimulating the retail sector. Shopping centres across the emirate are expected to compete by offering exclusive discounts and valuable prizes throughout the festival period.

Exhibitions, initiatives and retail highlights

In addition to retail promotions, the festival will feature a variety of cultural and social activities designed to enrich the Ramadan atmosphere and increase visitor footfall.

Among the highlights is the “Young Influencer” initiative, an interactive platform enabling children to showcase their talents and engage with the community. Another key event, “Your Iftar Is Ready,” reflects the humanitarian spirit of Ramadan, promoting solidarity and charitable giving.

Under the festival umbrella, visitors can also attend the “Ramadan Nights” exhibition at Expo Centre Sharjah. The exhibition offers shoppers additional opportunities to participate in prize draws and benefit from discounts across a wide range of products, further enhancing the overall retail experience.

Eastern region sports and spiritual events

Festival activities will extend to Sharjah’s Eastern Region through a series of sports, cultural and religious programmes supported by various partners.

These include the “Sharq Ramadan Football Championship,” part of the 2025–2026 sports season, as well as the Ramadan Football Tournament organised by Dibba Al Hisn Football Club.

A youth-focused tournament will also be held to encourage children and younger participants to embrace sport and adopt healthier lifestyles, fostering a sense of belonging and social responsibility.

Spiritual elements remain central to the programme, with a Qur’an recitation competition reinforcing the holy month’s significance. Additional competitions tailored for productive families will aim to support their economic empowerment and increase their market visibility.

Complementary community activities will run alongside the sports tournaments, delivering what organisers describe as an integrated Ramadan experience that blends shopping, sport, entertainment and social engagement across the emirate.

The launch of the Agentic Tourism Initiative was a result of a collaboration between TOURISE and Globant, a digital transformation company. Both entities introduced the world’s first ‘Agentic Protocol for Tourism’ *during a TOURISE event at the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos in January.

On the sidelines of the event, Gulf Business spoke with Julio De Salvo, SVP of Solutions and head of Solution Strategy & Partnerships (MENA & APAC) at Globant, about how this new protocol aims to solve the industry’s “coordination failure”, the strategic importance of the Middle East as a testing ground, and why the next 12 months are critical for moving AI from theory to infrastructure.

At WEF 2026, Globant introduced the world’s first ‘Agentic Protocol for Tourism’. In practical terms, what problem does this solve that existing AI deployments have failed to address?

We are addressing a fundamental problem: coordination failure. Tourism doesn’t actually have an AI problem; the failure has been assuming that intelligence alone equals progress. Intelligence without coordination simply amplifies fragmentation.

The protocol tackles the structural breakdown travellers experience daily — when a flight is delayed, but hotels aren’t informed, transfers don’t adjust, and dinner reservations are missed. This forces travellers to become “system integrators,” making multiple calls to fix a journey.

Unlike existing AI that operates in isolation, this protocol introduces a shared coordination layer across airlines, airports, hotels, and governments, enabling tourism to operate as a unified system.

Tourism has plenty of pilots, but few scaled systems. What does “agentic coordination” actually look like across these disconnected sectors?

It represents a shift from AI systems that merely recommend to ones that actively negotiate and act within human-defined parameters. In practice, when a flight delay is detected, the information is automatically propagated to airport operations, matched with hotel availability, and resolved before the traveller even notices.

You receive one notification that everything has been seamlessly sorted behind the scenes. This eliminates the accountability gap that currently leaves travellers stranded in complexity because every provider operates on different systems with no shared language.

As AI agents begin to influence decisions across borders, who is ultimately accountable: the platforms, the destinations, or the regulators?

Accountability must be explicit and layered. As I often say, “If everyone is accountable, no one is.”

We’ve outlined a clear hierarchy: platforms are accountable for agent behaviour, destinations for policy and citizen impact, and regulators for guardrails and cross-border legitimacy. This proactive approach treats regulatory frameworks not as a side consideration, but as the foundation. We must prevent the ambiguity that emerges when AI agents operate across international boundaries without clear oversight.

The Agentic Tourism Initiative was first launched at TOURISE in Riyadh. Why was Saudi Arabia the right starting point, and what does the Middle East bring to this global debate?

Saudi Arabia is the ideal launching point because it represents a greenfield opportunity rather than a legacy retrofit.

This conversation could not have started in a legacy market. When a country is building destinations, airports, and digital infrastructure simultaneously, it is forced to think in systems rather than patches.

The Middle East brings three critical elements: scale with intent through national-level transformation, the convening power to bring government and tech leaders into one room, and future-first regulation designed to enable innovation rather than protect outdated systems.

With the AI tourism market projected to reach $14bn by 2030, how do you ensure that speed doesn’t come at the expense of cultural nuance and trust?

It requires a coordinated coalition approach. We emphasise creating travel ecosystems that are not only intelligent but profoundly human. AI must enhance rather than replace human judgment, especially regarding cultural interpretation and local expertise.

By establishing industry-wide standards and preventing monopolistic control through open protocols, we ensure that rapid growth preserves local control and cultural authenticity while delivering meaningful journeys.

Looking ahead to TOURISE 2.0 in 2027, what tangible shifts should operators expect as this protocol moves into real-world deployment?

The focus shifts decisively from discussion to delivery. We have a clear 12-month roadmap to deliver a stable Agentic Tourism Protocol and two live, measurable use cases.

By 2027, destinations can expect fewer manual handoffs, faster recovery from disruptions, and clearer accountability. TOURISE 2.0 marks the moment when agentic tourism stops being an idea and starts behaving like infrastructure.

Read: From pit lane to mainframe: Globant’s Federico Pienovi on how AI is redefining F1

While the Middle East’s healthcare infrastructure has long been in a state of rapid development, the conversation at last week’s World Health Expo (WHX) Dubai signalled a shift from simply building hospitals to refining how they operate. Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) has been a central figure in this transition, recently completing a multi-year restructuring to emerge as a pure-play medtech organisation.

This evolution was punctuated by the strategic separation of its biosciences and diagnostics businesses, a move finalised in early 2026 to focus the company’s capital on high-growth medical technologies. By divesting these segments to Waters Corporation, BD has sharpened its internal lens on Connected Care, a segment that integrates medication management, automated dispensing, and patient monitoring into a single, cohesive architecture.

On the sidelines of WHX Dubai, Gulf Business spoke to Bilal Muhsin, EVP and president of BD’s Connected Care segment. Muhsin discussed how this new, leaner organisational structure is allowing BD to move beyond individual hardware sales to provide the intelligent “connective tissue” that modern UAE healthcare providers now demand.

Read: AI, prevention and policy alignment take focus at WHX in Dubai

What are BD’s priorities heading into 2026?

Following our recent earnings call and the separation of our biosciences and diagnostics businesses, BD is focusing on strengthening its medtech portfolio and accelerating growth within Connected Care. Our priorities include advancing infusion management systems, enhancing pharmacy automation and medication dispensing platforms, and expanding advanced patient monitoring solutions, while continuing to build the intelligence layer that integrates these components into a cohesive ecosystem.

We are also redefining how we engage with healthcare providers. Deploying a connected, cloud-enabled architecture requires long-term collaboration that aligns with a hospital’s strategic objectives around safety, efficiency and digital transformation. This involves investing in local expertise, advisory support and technical partnerships so that hospitals are supported throughout the lifecycle of adoption rather than only at the point of installation.

In addition, we are enhancing cybersecurity resilience and upgrading capabilities across our device ecosystem to reduce reliance on legacy systems and ensure that clinical environments remain secure and up to date. By 2026, our objective is to demonstrate that connected, data-driven medtech solutions can deliver measurable improvements in patient safety, operational efficiency and overall clinical outcomes, while meeting increasingly rigorous regulatory and security expectations.

What innovations are having the most impact on healthcare delivery today?

For BD, the most significant innovation is the development of a connected ecosystem that unifies medication management, infusion therapy and patient monitoring into a coordinated clinical workflow.

Through our Connected Care segment, which includes pharmacy automation platforms such as our medication dispensing systems, our infusion management solutions and advanced hemodynamic monitoring technologies, we are building an architecture that aligns therapy delivery with physiological response in real time. This includes the addition of intelligent data layers that allow clinicians to query operational information more intuitively and identify patterns across wards and patient populations.

More broadly, the integration of these systems is reshaping healthcare delivery. Traditionally, clinicians administering medication would separately monitor physiological changes and manually determine whether the intended therapeutic effect had been achieved. This required navigating multiple interfaces and reconciling information across devices, which increased cognitive load and the potential for delay.

When infusion, dispensing and monitoring platforms are connected, it becomes possible to align therapy with patient response far more effectively.

If a medication is delivered to stabilise blood pressure and the patient’s readings do not reflect the expected improvement, a connected system can detect that divergence immediately and prompt reassessment. The objective is not to replace professional judgement but to surface insights earlier so that adjustments can be made before deterioration occurs.

Our approach follows a staged progression, beginning with decision-support tools that highlight trends and predictive indicators, and gradually incorporating more advanced automation with clinician oversight and the ability to intervene manually at any point. The aim is to simplify complex workflows while preserving accountability and clinical authority.

AI is widely discussed in healthcare. How is BD approaching its use in clinical settings?

BD’s approach to AI begins with our position inside the therapy pathway. Because we operate in infusion, dispensing and monitoring, we have direct visibility into what medication is being delivered and how the patient’s body is responding.

That proximity allows us to design algorithms that are grounded in clinical reality rather than applied as a generic analytical layer. We are layering AI across our Connected Care ecosystem in a structured manner, starting with decision-support capabilities and predictive insights that align closely with real-world workflows.

In the broader healthcare landscape, AI adoption must reflect the sensitivity of clinical environments.

Unlike other industries, healthcare decisions have immediate implications for patient safety, which means predictive tools must operate within carefully defined parameters. The clinician remains the ultimate decision-maker, and automation is introduced progressively, with oversight mechanisms and the ability to override instantly. AI should assist by reducing cognitive burden and accelerating access to relevant insights, not by operating independently of human supervision.

Data governance and sovereignty are central to system design, particularly in regions such as the UAE and across Europe, where regulations require patient data to remain within national boundaries.

Our cloud architecture is designed to be adaptable to these requirements, with data segmentation and layered security built into the system. High availability, redundancy and timely upgrade capabilities are essential to maintain trust and operational continuity. When implemented responsibly, AI enhances clarity and responsiveness in clinical care while reinforcing, rather than undermining, professional expertise.

What kind of growth do you anticipate in healthcare over the next few years?

From BD’s perspective, growth is closely linked to expanding Connected Care deployments and deepening partnerships with hospitals that are ready to adopt system-level integration rather than standalone products. We are investing in local capabilities in markets such as the UAE to support long-term, multi-year collaborations, particularly in areas such as infusion management, pharmacy automation and AI-enabled data layers that help unlock value from existing infrastructure.

We expect that growth will not simply come from device sales, but from delivering measurable improvements in patient safety, operational efficiency and medication management.

Globally, healthcare spending is expected to continue rising, driven by demographic expansion, the growing prevalence of chronic conditions and sustained investment in advanced care capabilities. In the Gulf region, this trajectory is reinforced by national healthcare strategies that prioritise digital transformation and high-quality medical infrastructure.

However, the nature of growth is evolving. Hospitals are under greater scrutiny to justify investments with clear evidence of clinical and operational return. Technology adoption is increasingly tied to outcome improvement, whether that means reducing medication errors, lowering ICU readmission rates or improving workflow efficiency for nursing staff.

Many healthcare organisations have already invested significantly in electronic medical records and backend IT systems, yet the full value of those investments has not always been realised. The next phase of growth is likely to focus on extracting intelligence from existing data, integrating systems that historically operated in isolation and applying predictive analytics in ways that directly support patient care. In that context, growth will be driven by interoperability and insight rather than the expansion of hardware portfolios alone.

How do you see the future of healthcare evolving in the UAE and globally, specifically for BD?

For BD, the future of healthcare is closely aligned with the maturation of Connected Care, which brings infusion therapy, medication dispensing, pharmacy automation and advanced patient monitoring into an integrated, intelligent framework.

With a sharper focus as a pure medtech organisation, we are building systems that allow therapy delivery and physiological monitoring to operate as part of a continuous feedback loop rather than as disconnected processes. This integration supports clinicians in making more timely and informed decisions while maintaining oversight and accountability.

Across the wider healthcare landscape, delivery models are gradually shifting from episodic intervention to continuous, data-informed management. For many years, clinicians have had to interpret information from multiple systems in parallel while managing increasing patient complexity and workload pressures.

As hospitals seek to improve efficiency without compromising safety, connected environments that anticipate deterioration and surface insight earlier are becoming essential.

In markets such as the UAE, where healthcare infrastructure is modernising rapidly, and digital adoption is strong, the opportunity lies in ensuring that therapy delivery, monitoring and medication management systems operate cohesively rather than in isolation. When these elements communicate effectively, clinicians gain a clearer understanding of how treatment decisions impact patient physiology in real-time, which can help reduce adverse events, shorten hospital stays, and support safer care transitions.

The future of healthcare, both for BD and for the broader industry, will depend on how well-integrated systems can guide clinical judgement in a way that is practical, secure, and outcome-focused, rather than simply technologically advanced.

In fashion, expansion is easy. Alignment is rare. Marcella Wartenberg knows the difference. “I wanted to really make a plan with someone that could become a partner,” she tells me, her gaze steady. “Not just a businessperson, not just a business company, but really a partner.”

I met Wartenberg at the Dubai launch of Hackett London’s A/W 2025 campaign, an evening that brought Formula 1 royalty to the Emirates in December to celebrate British menswear. But for Wartenberg, the CEO of AWWG Group, the parent company behind Hackett London, Pepe Jeans, and Façonnable, the event represented something more fundamental: the regional alliance with Apparel Group and how it has reshaped how the Gulf experiences the brand.

It is a partnership built on shared values, she explains, and one with an aggressive vision: a new Hackett London store opening every six to eight weeks across the GCC for the next three years.

Wartenberg is precise about what she sought in a regional partner. “Apparel Group brings that to the table,” she says. The scope of the partnership extends far beyond the UAE. “It was very important to have a partner here in the GCC that could support the brand, not just in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, but also Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia,” she explains.

Crucially, Apparel Group serves as more than a distribution channel. “They could also be a voice of what the product and consumer needs were,” Wartenberg notes. The collaboration involves working closely on product requirements, delivery timing, and identifying gaps in the collection — “really finding the right balance between a global brand with local needs.”

Ambassadors with appeal

The evening’s centrepiece was the campaign featuring Carlos Sainz Sr, the legendary rally champion, alongside his son Carlos Sainz Jr, the Formula 1 driver. The pairing is deliberate. “For a long time, the brand has been thought of as very classic, very traditional,” Wartenberg explains. “And I feel that the consumer is moving to much more modernity, contemporary innovation.”

The Sainz duo embodies this evolution. “I don’t lose the tradition, but I can mix it with modernity, with a new generation, where I can talk about craftsmanship,” she says. “They love precision, they like speed, both of them, but they also like quality, and they’re always thinking about details. It is a very nice combination.”

The campaign rolled out simultaneously across the GCC, Europe, and Latin America. But having Carlos Sainz present in Dubai holds particular weight.

“It’s like getting closer to the consumers, really making some noise,” Wartenberg says, “but also showcasing what that combination of dad and son means.”

Changing consumer tastes

The early results exceeded expectations. “I looked at the results of the last eight weeks,” Wartenberg shares, “and the results in the GCC, it’s amazing how the consumers are accepting the brands, the trends, the quality, same results that we have in Europe.”

What excites her most is the consumer profile. “In other regions, the consumer is looking for innovation, but they are still very traditional,” she observes.

“They want to feel luxury, but at the same time, they want to have accessibility. And it’s a consumer that’s moving very fast, faster than other regions in the world.”

This velocity demands attention. “That’s why I think that we need to, as a global brand, look at what’s happening in the Middle East,” she says. “For me, it’s very important because it really is the foundation of growth for a new consumer.”

She notes an interesting paradox: despite being a global brand with a strong British heritage, the GCC consumer often wants exactly what European consumers want. “Localisation is so important because we are global,” she reflects, “but the consumer here, on many occasions, requires the same things as in Europe.”

The differences are often calendar-driven, such as holidays that fall at different times, but the fundamental desire to feel part of a global brand remains constant.

The smart casual revolution

The shift in menswear is significant, and Wartenberg has watched it closely. “The new generation has moved from a tailoring mindset to smart casual,” she observes. “They want to look smart, but they want to be casual. You see them everywhere, in the airports, in restaurants, in business meetings. Men today want to “feel” smart yet casual. They want to be impeccable, but at the same time, they want to be comfortable.”

The collection has adapted accordingly. “We have added a lot of things that are moving out of the tailor to half-constructed garments, technical fabrics for innovation, comfort,” she explains. “We always try to find a percentage of stretch in the product that can give that comfort feel without losing the luxury, without missing the natural fibres, the natural fabrics.”

The details matter enormously: silhouettes, colours that avoid becoming “too classic and boring,” and that distinctive British quirkiness. “A little bit of the unexpected colour,” she adds. “People are looking for personalisation and to feel unique.”

The 2026 imperative

Wartenberg sees clear trends emerging for 2026. “People are becoming much more conscious of feeling ‘unique’,” she says. “They want service. They want personalisation. You go to a store, you want to feel that you have an experience, without missing the digital part.”

Digital, she insists, is non-negotiable, even for luxury. “We always think luxury doesn’t need digitalisation. I think the opposite,” she says firmly. “You can have a luxury experience, service, but you need to have digital assets, loyalty, and know how to find the product, how to experience even a website. How do we look in e-commerce? How do we look in our images? Because it’s the first window to the brand.”

But Wartenberg is pragmatic about how e-commerce functions differently across brands. “It depends on the brand,” she explains. “In the case of Hackett, e-commerce plays two important roles. One is it’s a brand window, so we need to showcase beautiful images from social media all the way to our own e-commerce. And they will translate into easier categories to buy: shirts, sweaters, pants, polos.” She pauses. “The younger the brand, like other brands in the portfolio, then you need to think about quick speed and conversion. It’s very different.”

When I ask her to distill her 2026 strategy into three phrases, she is ready: “Consumer first. Digital daring, digital means AI, e-commerce, we need to dare. And operational excellence.”

People are daring to buy newness

The metrics tell a story Wartenberg finds encouraging. “One of the big pluses is that we see the brand is growing, not only in like-for-like, but also in new territories,” she says. But what excites her most isn’t just the numbers. “I like to see that people are daring to buy newness. People are not just buying the basics. People are daring to buy new. People want to renew themselves.” She leans forward slightly. “It’s very good to see that we are now a brand with a new proposition for the consumer. And we are being chosen for that.”

As a woman leading a portfolio of men’s brands, Wartenberg has developed a distinctive approach. “As a female leader in a very male-dominated world, it’s interesting because I can play more of my neutral part,” she reflects. “It’s not personal. I just think about what the business needs. Sometimes it’s easy to find that balance between the sensitivity of a woman with a business mindset,” she continues. “That combination, sensitivity with more pragmatic thinking, I think it works.”

Her advice is universal. “The big lesson is that everyone can achieve everything,” she says. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a woman or a man, but you need to believe. You need to believe in the dream that you have, that you can make it, and you need to work hard. Like everyone else.”

Values, she emphasises, are not abstract ideals but practical tools. “Sometimes we forget that as a leader, we need to make tough decisions,” she says. “But if you have values, you know how to balance them. You know there’s a crisis somewhere, but it helps you to really make the right decisions.” She’s quiet for a moment, then adds: “You need to believe in the dream that you have, that you can make it, and you need to work hard. Like everyone else.”

Defining the Hackett man

“Who is the Hackett customer?” I ask Wartenberg. “The Hackett man is a global person,” she explains. “He likes to read about things happening around the world. He travels, for pleasure or business, but he travels. He likes to know what’s happening in the news. He’s empowered, from a creative angle, a business angle, a financial angle. He’s a man who wants to feel good.”

She pauses. “I think it’s a man who just wants that thing I was talking about, modernity, comfort, relaxation, but still very stylish. The stylish part is very important.”

And increasingly, she notes, boundaries are blurring. “The whole gender thing is almost neutral,” she observes. “Men are wearing colours traditionally seen as women’s, and women are wearing men’s silhouettes. It’s interesting how everything is crossing over.”

As our conversation draws to a close, Wartenberg returns to the theme of connection. “We believe that you can create an emotional connection with the consumer,” she says. “That is the first step to create loyalty. And gaining new consumers costs a lot for any company. So, once you gain them, you need to keep them.”

How? “Spoiling them,” she says simply. “Giving them a good experience. Giving them the right product. Giving them the feeling that they need to buy more and come back. And that they always think of you as a brand.”

She pauses, then smiles. “That’s global. It’s not a regional thing. All men, all women, everyone, consumers want to feel that way.”

With Apparel Group as their partner and a store opening nearly every month across the Gulf, Hackett London is betting big on the region.

Read: Aldo Bensadoun on the soul behind a global footwear empire

Emirates confirms that flights to and from Algeria are operating as scheduled, and services remain unaffected at this time. Customers with upcoming travel plans should proceed as booked.

Emirates will fully comply with any instructions or directives issued by government authorities and will provide timely updates to its customers, employees and partners should circumstances change.

Read more-Emirates adds Premium Economy to Dublin, Milan, Hong Kong

The airline also confirmed that currently, the last scheduled flight, EK757, will depart from Algiers on February 3, 2027. The entity also apologised for any inconvenience that this may cause their customers. Customers whose travel plans are impacted from this date are encouraged to consider alternative travel arrangements through their booking agents, an Emirates media report said.

Emirates expands reach in China through interline partnership with Loong Air

Emirates and Loong Air have signed an interline agreement, increasing Emirates’ footprint in China and offering the airline’s customers access to additional cities beyond its own gateways.

Starting immediately, Emirates customers will have access to 22 points across China operated by Loong Air via Hangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong. The cities span several regions across East, Northeast, South, Central, and Southwest China.

The partnership offers customers the simplicity of booking multi-airline itineraries with a single fare, along with one seamless baggage policy and consistent fare conditions throughout their journey. Emirates’ expanded reach in China will further enhance connectivity for leisure and business travellers alike, unlocking convenient access to key domestic hubs including Zhengzhou, Changchun, Haikou, Xiangyang, and Dazhou.

Tickets can be purchased on www.emirates.com, Online Travel Agencies (OTA’s) and with all major GDS’ via travel agents. Customers booking through Emirates’ official website can also enjoy the convenience of online payment methods such as WeChat Pay and Alipay.

Emirates in China

The launch of an interline agreement with Loong Air is part of Emirates’ ongoing commitment to the Chinese market. Last year, the airline launched flights to two new destinations – Shenzhen and Hangzhou, and has further enhanced its product offerings by deploying its award-winning Premium Economy on these new routes, in addition to bringing back its iconic A380 on Shanghai flights.

Emirates has been operating in the Chinese mainland since 2004. Today, the airlineserves five major cities with 49 weekly flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hangzhou using a mix of A380s, A350s and Boeing 777s.

In addition to Loong Air, Emirates is also partnered with Air China, China Southern Airlines and Sichuan Airlines, offering customers access to more than 110 points in China beyond its own network, via its existing 5 gateways.