With one year to go until Expo 2020 Dubai opens on 1 October 2021, organisers are committed to convening the global community in a spirit of collaboration and innovation to build a strong, sustainable future for everyone. Releasing new images that show the advanced state of readiness across the site, Expo 2020 is fully prepared to host a global celebration of humanity’s resilience, creativity, culture and innovation, a tribute to the strength of society, its ability to innovate, and pursuit of optimism in the face of adversity.

“Our leadership has spared no effort, guided us, and provided all resources to ensure that our World Expo will be a true expression of the UAE’s values, reflecting its ambition to build a better future for us, the region and the world, a future of which coming generations will be proud,” says Her Excellency Reem Al Hashimy, UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation, and Director General of Expo 2020 Dubai Bureau.

“Our World Expo has a mission to inspire hope. In the coming weeks, we will begin to share new details and ideas about space, health and wellness, travel and connectivity and other subjects that sit at the heart of this Expo. We hope that people will join us to achieve our objectives to bring the world together and put humanity and the planet on the right path towards dignity for all.”

Progress on the Expo site has continued at pace, with more than 210 million work hours completed to date. The work in 2020 has focused on landscaping and fit-out of Expo-owned buildings. Also, the construction of the Country Pavilions will be finalised by the end of the year.

The first World Expo in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region will run from 1 October 2021 until 31 March 2022. It will bring together over 190 countries to explore new ideas, form new connections and collectively tackle some of the greatest global challenges of our time.

Expo 2020 Dubai will bring together millions of people and the most outstanding innovations from around the globe, helping to shape a better world under the theme “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”.

“The six months will be an opportunity to be part of an unparalleled event and we are extending a warm Emirati welcome to the world,” says Reem Al Hashimy.

Also, Expo 2020 will be an endless journey of discovery. Visitors will have access to the latest innovations and breakthroughs, with participants, including nations, multilateral organisations, businesses and educational institutions, coming together to highlight real-life solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.

“Expo 2020’s subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability will inspire visitors to make a conscious effort to think and live differently and give them renewed optimism that, through collaboration, it is possible to make a lasting change to the world,” says Reem Al Hashimy.

The location for Dubai Expo 2020 will be near Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai South.

About World Expos. In 1851 the Crystal Palace was the centrepiece of London’s Great Exhibition, the first World Expo. It celebrated the human-made industrial wonders of a rapidly changing world. Architecture, contents and a theme, ‘Industry of All Nations’, were combined to create a big idea of nations meeting nations in shared technological and commercial progress.

In more recent years, participants in World Expos, including governments, international organisations and companies, have gathered to find solutions to universal challenges and to promote their achievements, products, ideas, innovations. And also, their national brand, and their nations as destinations for tourism, trade and investment.

World Expos are held under the auspices of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), the intergovernmental organisation responsible for overseeing and regulating international exhibitions (‘Expos’) and for fostering their core values of education, innovation and cooperation. Today, four types of Expos are organised under the BIE’s auspices: World Expos, Specialised Expos, Horticultural Expos and the Triennale di Milano.