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SLTPB gears up for World Expo

17 Jan 2021

[caption id="attachment_114291" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Expo 2020 Dubai will be among the largest yet at 1,083 acres[/caption]

No repetition of same mistakes

  Despite almost missing the Expo 2020 Dubai before it was postponed due to the pandemic situation, this time, Sri Lanka is on track to participate at the World Expo that will be held in Dubai this year. Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) Marketing Director Madubhani Perera told The Sunday Morning Business that they are in touch with the World Expo organisers and have already recommenced preparatory work a few weeks ago. “We are yet to finalise an event management company, but that is not urgent at the moment. Now we are preparing other necessary work, including visual presentations through digital concepts. After that, we will look for an event management company that can take care of overall co-ordination and also have links in Dubai,” Perera added. The responsibility for conducting preparatory work for Sri Lanka’s participation at Expo 2020 Dubai, which had been vested with the Export Development Board (EDB), was shifted to SLTPB late last year through a cabinet proposal. The expo, which would be held for a period of six months, was initially scheduled to be held in October 2020. The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), the intergovernmental organisation in charge of overseeing and regulating world expos, postponed the expo to October 2021, following the peak of the pandemic in May. However, mid-August, BIE Secretary General Dimitri Kerkentzes took to Twitter to state that pavilion construction is progressing well as the pandemic has not impacted the preparation of the exhibition. Following this, Sri Lanka resumed preparatory work to participate in Expo 2020 Dubai as expo organisers confirmed that the preliminary work is underway to commence the six-month-long event in October 2021. Sri Lanka’s participation at Expo 2020 Dubai was hanging in the balance as of January last year due to bureaucratic delays and the absence of required funds. Nevertheless, the postponement of the expo due to Covid-19 came as a blessing in disguise for Sri Lanka. World Expo is one of the largest international events that takes place once every five years, and this time, Dubai has been selected as the venue. It will mainly focus on tourism, investment promotion, and trade. The expo will be held under the theme of “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”. The three subthemes are opportunity, mobility, and sustainability, based on which the master floor plan differs. Sri Lanka’s pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai will be located in the opportunity district which consists of 212 square metres of exhibit area on the ground floor and 172 square metres of office space on the first floor. The Sri Lankan pavilion will be organised under the title “Island of Ingenuity”. Expo 2020 Dubai is expected to attract over 25 million visitors, of which 70% will be international visitors. It is also expected that there will be more than 200 participants during the span of six months to showcase their countries.


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