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Organisers of the Expo 2020 global trade fair have recommended pushing it back a year owing to the coronavirus, while keeping the name unchanged, they said Tuesday.
Planned to open in October, the six-month expo in Dubai has hoped to attract around 25 million visitors to a country that has one of the most diversified economies in the Gulf region.
On Tuesday, a statement said the executive committee of the Bureau International des Expositions “has unanimously agreed to propose the postponement of Expo 2020 Dubai to 1 October 2021 – 31 March 2022.
“Assessing the unforeseen impact of the Covid-19 on public health, economic activity and global restrictions on movement, the Executive Committee unanimously recommended approving the UAE’s request to postpone the Expo, and to maintain the name ‘Expo 2020 Dubai’,” the statement said in reference to the United Arab Emirates.
Changing the date requires consent of a two-thirds majority of BIE member states, the statement added, with a vote to “be carried out remotely between Friday 24 April and Friday 29 May.”
Dubai, known for hosting hundreds of conferences annually, has already scrapped a string of cultural and entertainment events but had not announced plans to postpone the much-anticipated Expo.
As of 1100 GMT on Tuesday, a tally from official sources compiled by AFP showed that the Middle East has reported 129,497 cases of COVID-19, with 5,683 deaths.