International Trade Secretary, is today urging innovative UK
businesses to seize the opportunities at Dubai Expo 2020.
Speaking today, Dr Fox announced that the Department for
International Trade is seeking to appoint a team with creative
ideas to design the UK’s Pavilion for Expo 2020, in a way which
creates the most original, inspiring and memorable visitor
experience possible.
The Expo 2020 theme will be ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the
future’ with an expected footfall of 25 million visitors from
around the world, providing an ideal platform to project Britain
as a global force for prosperity, innovation, creativity and
thought leadership. As this is the first World Expo to take place
in the Middle East, the opportunities to connect with one of the
most dynamic, young, and fastest growing regions in the world are
immense.
The UK’s participation will consist of a self-build Pavilion
supported by an accompanying programme of business and cultural
events all related to the theme: Global Britain –
Innovating for a Shared Future.
Britain has a proud tradition in supporting global expo’s,
hosting the first ever Expo, The Great Exhibition of the Works of
Industry at Crystal Palace in 1851, with previous winning entries
at Shanghai 2010 and Milan 2015. This historic expertise was a
key factor in British companies including Foster and Partners,
Grimshaw Architects and BiP Solutions, who have won contracts
worth £1 billion to help build and deliver Expo 2020 Dubai
itself.
International Trade Secretary, said:
“I am delighted to announce that the UK will be participating in
Expo 2020 Dubai which will offer UK businesses a fantastic
opportunity to showcase the best of British innovation, over 150
years on from the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace, the
world’s first ever expo.
“As an international economic department, DIT is ensuring British
businesses make the most of growing markets and export their
goods around the world. The festival will be a major showcase for
the UK in the Middle East, and a shop window for the best of our
creativity and innovation.”
Further information
- Expo 2020 Dubai takes place between 20 October 2020 and 10
April 2021 based on the theme: Connecting Minds,
Creating the future. This will be the first Expo to take
place in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia region (MEASA).
180 nations will take part in Expo 2020 Dubai alongside NGO’s and
sponsors.
- Six million visitors attended the Great Exhibition at Crystal
Palace in 1851 and gave rise to the development of the area now
known as ‘Albertopolis’ in London, which contains a large number
of educational and cultural sites including the Natural History
Museum, Royal Albert Hall and the V &
A.
- The UK’s at Expo 2020 project is being funded by six
government departments (DIT, DFT, FCO, DFID, DEFRA & BEIS).
