World Expo Dubai 2020

Athens, 17 October 2019 | Greece unveiled its participation at next year’s World Expo Dubai 2020 – the largest investment and trade exhibition to be held in the Arab World – this week at a special event organized by the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Athens and in collaboration with Enterprise Greece.

The presentation, which took place 16 October at a hotel in central Athens, is part of a special Week of Tolerance between 14 and 20 October, that is being held in the context of the UAE’s 2019 Year of Tolerance celebration.

Marking the first time ever that a World Expo has been held in the region, the UAE will host the World Expo Dubai 2020 from 20 October 2020 to 10 April 2021. Under the banner: “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”, the Expo will seek to promote just and sustainable development, and the free of movement of ideas, goods and people.

The Expo will focus on three sub-themes: Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability, and serves as a global platform for investment, trade agreements and international partnerships. The Expo will feature 192 countries and is expected to draw at least 25 million visitors.

At this week’s event, EXPO 2020 representatives Mr. Khalid Sharaf, Director of International Business Engagement, and Mr. Adriano Konialidis, Director for International Participants, gave a detailed presentation of the upcoming exhibition. For the first time in the more than 150 year history of World Expos, next year’s exhibition will feature individual pavilions for each of the countries participating. More than 60 live events are scheduled each day and more than 200 food and beverage outlets will be hosted on site, allowing visitors to sample culinary delights from around the world.

In separate remarks, UAE Ambassador Mohamed Meer Al-Raeesi welcomed Greece’s participation in World Expo Dubai 2020, and called on Greek businesses to actively participate in the event which will serve to highlight the country’s achievements. He emphasized that the exhibition will act as a platform for stakeholders to explore the immense opportunities emerging in the areas of mobility and sustainability.

Enterprise Greece CEO Georgios Filiopoulos said: “the Greek pavilion will feature seven dynamic pillars of the Greek economy: human resources, shipping and logistics, tourism and culture, agriculture and food, life sciences, and technology, which represent some of the country’s comparative advantages.”

Drawing inspiration from the legend of Ariadne’s Thread and with the slogan: “Greece paves the way”, the central message of the Greek participation will be that “Greece is showing the way to innovation, showing the way to the future,” said Mr. Costas Dimitros, Area Director for the Middle East at SALFO SA, a Greek engineering consultancy that designed the national pavilion.

The pavilion will seek to:

1. 1. Highlight Greece’s contemporary image and success.

2. 2. Promote Greece’s modern economy, its culture and its productive base in relation to the central themes of the Expo; and provide the basis for innovative commercial partnerships that will support exports and investment.

3. 3. Communicate, in a fresh and imaginative way, the central themes of the World Expo Dubai 2020.

The countdown to the World Expo Dubai 2020 has begun.