The members of the combined U.S. Standing Committee (U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council, ABC Dubai and the Northern Emirates, AmCham Abu Dhabi, Bechtel, Boeing, CH2MHill, Dow, GE, Honeywell, and Parsons) established to support Expo 2020 met in Dubai on Tuesday, May 26 with key representatives of H.E. Reem Al Hashimy’s office at the Expo 2020 Bureau. U.S. Ambassador to the U.A.E. Barbara Leaf also attended the meeting as an observer/participant.
The Expo 2020 Dubai team representatives updated our Standing Committee on a wide range of topics related to Expo 2020, but primarily focused on schedule and planning to cover the next year. The Expo 2020 team remains focused on engaging existing outside partners and potential new partners on all aspects of theme generation, content creation, best practices, and good governance.
First, they outlined broad Expo 2020 goals: to create a truly exceptional Expo; to create a long term legacy; to empower youth; to enhance knowledge transfer; and, to create aneconomic cluster under the overall Expo 2020 theme of Connecting Minds, Creating the Future. They emphasized that the recently launched e-portal at https://esource.expo2020dubai.ae is the one place for all companies and organizations to register in order to express interest and to receive follow up communications on opportunities. This e-portal will be the single site of sign up for all procurement and sponsorship activities, and all sizes of companies are encouraged to sign up.
Second, the team spent some amount of time discussing the requirement that the Expo 2020 installation become a legacy that lives beyond the actual Expo itself. Creating a world-class knowledge-based community on the grounds of Expo 2020 that sustains itself well after the close of Expo 2020 itself is the goal. A number of proposals are under consideration for how to achieve this, but needless to say, fully integrating this requirement now into current planning and execution for Expo 2020 is critical.
Third, Expo 2020 team representatives discussed the year ahead:
Final registration documents for Expo 2020 will be submitted to the BIE in the summer of 2015.
• Workshops for engaging potential partners will be established, created and announced in September around Expo 2020 theme content and generation.
• The BIE will vote to finalize and approve Dubai’s Expo 2020 plan in November 2015 in Paris.
• TheExpo 2020 team will begin talking to companies and organizations about official sponsorship packages in Q3 2015.
• A Youth Forum is being planned to take place in Q4 2015 to start captivating the imagination and involvement of youth.
• The Expo 2020 team will officially invite foreign governments to express interest in country pavilions beginning in December 2015.
Fourth, successive years will focus in general terms on the following: design and production in 2016; construction in 2017 and 2018; and, turnover of the facility to partners and exhibitors for final outfit in 2019. Unlike other Expos which usually occur over the summer months, Expo 2020 will run from October 2020 to April of 2021.
A big focus for the moment for the Expo 2020 team is the participation of their delegation at Milan Expo 2015, currently underway. While the vast majority of visitors to previous expos come from the host country or nearby environs, Expo 2020 expects that 70% of its total visitors will come from outside of the U.A.E.
Next Steps:
• The U.S. Standing Committee leaders will visit Milan Expo 2015 in September 2015 and will meet with the Expo 2020 team there, tour the U.A.E. Pavilion, and engage various officials to learn best practices from the Milan experience. U.S. Ambassador Barbara Leaf will lead this commercial delegation.
• The U.S. Standing Committee leaders will participate in and help facilitate broader outreach to industry regarding the various workshops organized by the Expo 2020 team this fall.
• The U.S. Standing Committee leaders will organize and assist with a road show in the U.S. to facilitate briefings and information exchange by the Expo 2020 team members with key U.S. stakeholders and institutions.
• Upon issuance of invitations to foreign governments to present proposals for country pavilions, the U.S. Standing Committee will work closely with the U.S. Government to ensure that the U.S. begins a robust process for eventually setting up and establishing a U.S. country pavilion.
• The U.S. Standing Committee will consider further steps to assist with sponsorship as well enhanced engagement with the Expo 2020 team.
For questions, comments, and to express interest, please contact U.S. Standing Committee Chair, U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council at info@usuaebusiness.org, or Vice Co-Chairs, American Business Council of Dubai & the Northern Emirates at director@abcdubai.com and AmCham Abu Dhabi at director@amchamabudhabi.org.
