Oman will be the next destination for the Condé Nast International Luxury Conference, it was announced on Wednesday by Suzy Menkes, International Vogue editor and curator of the conference. 

 

It will be held on April 5 and 6, 2017 and the conference will be themed ‘Mindful Luxury: Navigating the New Silk Routes’. 

 

An official communique said that after an exceptional inaugural event in Florence in 2015 and the 2016 conference in Seoul, South Korea in April, next year’s event will take place at the Al Bandar and Al Husn hotels of Shangri-La Barr al Jissah Resort & Spa. 

 

 

It may be a country more commonly associated with Samba and carnival, but Brazil was beating to an Omani rhythm recently with a series of cultural days going down a storming success in two of the South American country’s largest cities. 

 

Held between July 28 and August 2 in Sao Paulo and from August 5 to August 9 in Rio de Janeiro, the cultural days were the first time any Arab country has attempted such a thing in Brazil. Their popularity goes to show there is a strong interest in the Middle East within the country. 

 

The days featured an extensive cultural programme designed by the Ministry of Heritage, including displays of traditional dance and crafts, as well as photographic exhibitions to showcase the unique beauty of the Sultanate. 

Just as we launch UK/Nigeria 2015–16, a new season of cultural exchange between Nigeria and the UK, the British Council’s Alex Bratt recommends some cultural highlights in Lagos. 

 

 

In Lekki, just off Lagos Island, in the southern part of Lagos, on a residential, suburban street, you can find a boutique and café called Stranger. It’s one of the more expensive areas in Lagos. The houses are all behind six-foot walls with iron gates. You wouldn’t ever think there was anything behind them, except people living their lives, but then you start to discover all of these companies and businesses that you otherwise wouldn’t know about. 

Instead the items will need to be shipped direct to their country of final destination or imported and moved under bond. The situation is unclear at the time of writing however, should this become the case it will be a serious retrograde step and have a significant detrimental effect on those companies in the UK that act as a destination hub for European traffic. 

 

The notice calls for the immediate and strict implementation of Article 123 of EC Regulation 1186/2009. This article states: