The UAE has submitted its final bid to host the World Expo 2020, the state news agency, Wam, said yesterday.
The official bid dossier -- which took 10 months to complete -- was submitted to the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), the Paris-based intergovernmental body in charge of the bidding process, selection and eventual organisation of World Expos, earlier this week.
Mohamed Meer Abdalla Al Raeesi, the UAE's ambassador to France, was selected to submit the dossier, which is 600 pages long and contains details about the UAE's vision for the World Expo, should it be held in Dubai.
The bids of the five competing cities - Izmir (Turkey), Sao Paulo (Brazil), Ayutthaya (Thailand), Ekaterinburg (Russia) and Dubai - will be sent to representatives of each of the 161 countries that are members of the BIE.
In the fight to win the 2020 World Expo - the theme for which would be 'Connecting Minds, Creating the Future,' if hosted in Dubai - organisers called on African countries to offer their support.
"I think the chances of each candidate city are equal, but I am confident as ever the Expo will be held in this part of the world, which includes the region of the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia," said Reem Ibrahim Al Hashimy, Minister of State and managing director of the Dubai Expo 2020 Executive Bid Committee, according to Wam.
"We want this exposition to be truly universal,'' she said.
Taking place every five years, the next Expo will be held in Milan, Italy, under the theme: 'Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life'.
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