Expo 2020 all set to create the future!

The UAE has just commenced celebrations to mark the one-year countdown of the most eagerly-awaited world fair that will turn the spotlight on host city Dubai from October 20, 2020 until April 10, 2021.

As a UAE resident, I feel both a sense of immense pride and gratitude to be partaking in this historic milestone. The UAE’s hosting of Expo 2020 - the first in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region - is a testament to its grand ambitions and aspirations to deliver one of the most successful expos ever.

Drawing on its strengths of diversity, strong infrastructure and stability, the UAE has positioned Expo 2020 as a platform aimed at finding solutions to the biggest challenges of humanity. This will indeed be the legacy it will leave behind as it seeks to build partnerships and inspire ideas shaping the world of tomorrow.

It is interesting to note how UAE’s theme for Expo 2020 - ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ - blends well with its economic trajectory that has seen the nation witness massive economic development reform and diversification in just a short span of nearly five decades. This theme is therefore not just a futuristic vision for the UAE - the country is already living and practicing it.

Expo 2020’s sub themes - Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability - also highlight the nation’s renewed vision of progress and development based on shared purpose and commitment. 

We all have the power to shape the future and Expo 2020 aims to unlock this potential in multiple ways by fostering a strong tech and innovative ecosystem; enabling smarter movement of knowledge, ideas and goods; and embracing alternative sources of food, water, and clean and renewable energy in a bid to reassess how we can preserve the planet.

Hosting the most inclusive expo with the participation of 192 countries is no mean feat. As we begin the countdown to welcome 25 million people - the size of the population of Australia - to visit Expo 2020 over a 173 day period, it is with great anticipation that I look forward to witnessing how the UAE is pushing its boundaries to offer a glimpse of what the world can achieve if we simply believe in the power of collaboration.