PARIS - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) today officially
received the flag as the host of the next world's largest expo in Dubai in 2020
during a grand ceremony in French capital of Paris.
President and Director of the Paris-based Bureau
International des Expositions (BIE), the governing body of World Expos,
presented the baton for Expo 2020 Dubai to H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al
Maktoum, Chairman of the Emirates Group, and Chairman of the Supreme National
Committee for Expo 2020 Dubai.
Expo 2020 Dubai, themed 'Connecting
Minds, Creating the Future,' has identified three sub-themes around which the
global community will gather to sign new collaborations, in order to find
solutions to essential matters and to leave a mark of a strong social and
economic collaboration around the world.
Milano hosted expo 2015 for six months
from May 1 to October 31, 2015.
Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashemi, Minister
of State delivered a speech which she started by condemning the act of terror
which took place recently in Paris.
Below is a full text of Reem Al
Hashemi's speech: Fellow delegates and members of the Bureau Internationale des
Expositions.
Before I speak about Expo 2020 and its’
place in my nation’s heart, I would like to take a simple moment to add my
voice to billions of others, around the world, in condemnation of the terror
that so recently visited the streets and the people of this great city of
light.
Hatred, bigotry and fascism affects us
all, because it attacks us all. Wisdom, decency, common purpose and love must
be our way of neutralizing barbarism.
But, surely, that is what this great
institution is all about: to present and reflect our abilities to bring about
only the very best our civilization can offer. To bring hope, and light and life onto the streets and into our hearts that is our opportunity. The
opportunity you have given to us.
Ladies and Gentleman, on behalf of the
Expo 2020 Organizing Committee and the people of the United Arab Emirates, I
want to formally thank you for the vote of trust you have bestowed upon our
nation.
All of us in the team are deeply
conscious of the honor this represents, not least because Expo 2020 will be
the first World Expo held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia region and
specifically hosted by an Arab Nation.
You have brought about a truly historic
occasion. And we are more than aware of the extra burden of responsibility this
places on our young nation.
I assure you now, that going forward we
will work with the same meticulous care and diligence that I hope you feel we
have shown to date.
Our aim is both very simple and truly
ambitious: to ensure that Expo 2020 Dubai more than repays your faith with an
event that we intend will enthrall and amaze our visitors.
But before I say more about that, I want
to reflect on what it actually means to host a World Expo.
Looking back, the utterly memorable and
genuinely significant Expos have almost always managed to accomplish at least
three things, simultaneously: 1. They have captured and enshrined both the heart
of the host city and the pulse of the nation.
2. Absorbed the prevailing temperament
of the world, celebrating the positive aspects and demonstrating the
opportunities that lie ahead.
3. And most have also gazed into the
future to predict the coming trends in technology, industry, innovation and
across society at large.
With your generous support, we are now
undertaking our own Expo, wholly aware that we have some pretty tough acts to
follow.
Not least because all our nations stand
balanced right on the edge of so many global tipping points: political,
technological, economic, social and environmental.
So crafting a theme that has relevance
to the times and to the temper of the world was essential in choosing the right
path to follow.
In finding a proposition that was
persuasive, distinctive and clear; that reflected the identity and spirit of
the UAE, yet was wholly relevant to today’s global needs, we realized the vital
importance of connections.
That only working together can we hope
to solve some of the towering challenges that lie ahead. Your votes signified
that you felt the same way too.
Connecting Minds, Creating the Future recognizes that by our very nature we are social creatures whose most basic
drives lead us to bond together in communities to find collaborative solutions
to common challenges.
We know that we need to blend the
thoughtful with the thought-provoking, the hopeful with the hospitable.
Celebrating humanity’s combined
brilliance and ensuring our guests enjoy the celebration.
This is where the sub-themes are needed
to concentrate our efforts, to be a catalyst, provide focus and lead on to
progress.
The sub-themes identify and underscore
the drivers of progress.
Realizing Opportunity means we must be
more inclusive with greater outreach to the citizenry of the world.
Mobility spans every mechanism from
physical logistics and transport, to the built environment and its supporting
infrastructure, to real and virtual communications, taking our message and our
methodologies beyond our borders.
And Sustainability is there both in
word as in deed. We intend to make this the first expo where sustainability has
been built in from the word go. Also built in from the earliest moments, our
Expo legacy encompasses the economic effects on tourism and business, the reputation legacies in national pride and international impression.
Then there are the Physical legacies:
structures and infrastructures with cultural, educational and commercial
benefits including research institutes, business and residential spaces.
Make no mistake, our site will
transform into a very special area, clustering together science and industry
hubs that play to Dubai’s strengths in logistics, air transport and education,
providing a further boost to our growing knowledge economy, embedding science,
technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics into the curriculum, helping
to prepare our young for the jobs market of the future.
There is, of course, a higher,
non-commercial legacy too: Our determination to create a meeting of minds, real
and virtual, to encourage and foster empathy between us all, and across the
globe, but especially in our region where confidence and belief in our
self-worth will,we hope, lead to better understanding of our place alongside
every other citizen of the world.
And, in so doing we hope to foster
genuine empathy, in its true meaning, and with it, tolerance. Even before we
open our gates the work has started with initiatives like Expo Live and the
Challenge Fund: championing and rewarding innovative solutions to collective
global issues. And with outreach programmes across the spectrum, such as
YouthConnect.
Just recently, we had the privilege of
hosting almost 700 young people at the first of these annual events. They
helped design the agenda and choose the speakers and presenters. They told us
clearly what they expect for the future and from their Expo we listened hard
and we learned a lot.
They want and need opportunity, they
want hope, they want to contribute to a fairer, more decent global civilization.They
want Expo to accept and reflect all these things and then offer them back to
the world.
Simultaneously, we are engaging with
young entrepreneurs for their support and participation, and talking repeatedly
to SME’s across the region, to ensure they understand the vital role they have
to play.
Similarly, we are constantly meeting
with business leaders from many of your own countries through the forum of the
international Business Councils.
Events like this are just the
beginning: there will be many, many, more over the coming five years extending
the conversation from business out into education and beyond, to arts and
culture, entertainment and sport.
Above all, out onto the streets and
homes; not least our own.
And to help us get the measure of this,
to monitor the global pulse, understand the latest thinking and enabling
technology, just a few days ago, my team and I sat with three dozen global
thought leaders in Dubai.
Over 48 hours, each of our guests
presented the very best they could bring from areas as diverse as architecture
and artificial intelligence, climatology and culture.
The thinking was wholly positive,
utterly forward looking, perilously profound above all it was fresh and new. We
listened, we learned, we debated and we discussed. In so many ways it was a
connection of minds, that came together aimed at creating the future.
Friends and fellow participants, the
clock is ticking; the countdown has begun to Dubai 2020.
We have hit the ground running,
determined not to waste a single minute in doing all we can, with your
involvement and support, to make this Expo one that is seen as genuinely
meaningful, impact and enjoyable.
We’ve already up’d the pace, working to
a comprehensive Master Plan that brings all the different threads into a
coherent programme that we look forward to telling you more about at next
year’s June Assembly.
We’re excited about the process of
delivery. It’s a huge and challenging undertaking but, as you have seen, the
UAE strives to be a dynamic and highly ambitious nation with a record of
getting things done on time and in budget.
And just as you have all collectively
come together to award this milestone Expo. So, I hope, you can see your place
alongside us as official participants in 2020.
We recognise that this will be easier
for some countries than for others, where resources are more constrained.
To that end, we are constructing a
calendar of one-to-one meetings with each participant to ensure that every
country has the opportunity and funding to tell their own distinctive, national
story.
In doing so, the UAE will break new
ground by offering all member nations their own individual pavilion, their own
unique narrative.
The last time we addressed this
assembly we were delighted to tell you that we were on time and on track, that
Expo 2020 Dubai had the whole-hearted and unconditional support at every level
of Government.
Today, it is my distinct pleasure to
tell you that nothing has changed. Except for the better.
The desire to help, to get involved
grows stronger by the day.
This time it is my honor to add that
we are registered and ready for the journey ahead.
Friends and colleagues, we started this
journey together as members of the BIE It is our most fervent wish that we
should continue together with universal effort and participation. Not just by
providing the bricks and mortar, or rather the concrete and glass, for the
pavilions but also by continuing to give us your enthusiasm, engagement,
support and backing with messages, ideas, content and legacy. A legacy that
will have a meaningful impact for years and decades to come.
I thank you all for your kind attention
today, your belief in what we are doing and, of course, for your boundless
backing enthusiasm and encouragement.
