DUBAI: Dubai’s ruler yesterday pressed for the Gulf emirate to be given the right to host the 2020 Universal Exposition, as the Paris-based organising committee meets to discuss the bids of five competing cities.
“We want to host Expo 2020 — a global event in which the cultures, innovations and creations of the world will meet in Dubai,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum wrote in an article published in several UAE newspapers.
Dubai is competing with Sao Paulo in Brazil, the Turkish city of Izmir, Ayutthaya in Thailand and Ekaterinburg in Russia to host the six-month extravaganza.
“We want to welcome more than 25 million people during the six months,” wrote Sheikh Mohammed.
The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) began yesterday a two-day meeting of its general assembly, it said on its website.
AFP
