At the Arabian Travel Market exhibition in Dubai last month, there was a buzz around the Italian pavilion. Dubai residents, who claim a special sense of ownership to the term Expo in the run-up to the emirate hosting the universal exposition in 2020, naturally gravitated towards giant posters about Expo Milano 2015.
At the stand there were brightly painted bags and a key-shaped USB drive as giveaways, along with a campaign to register authorised resellers for Expo 2015 tickets from the UAE.
Milan will host the World Expo under the theme Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life from May 1 to October 31, 2015, before passing the baton to Dubai to host the Expo in 2020 under the theme Connecting Minds, Creating the Future. While strikingly different, the themes reflect global preoccupation with sustainability and technology.
Officials in both countries are working together to maximise bilateral cooperation for the event. In February, the two countries signed an agreement on cooperation between Dubai’s Expo 2020 and Milano Expo 2015. The agreement was signed by Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman and CEO of Emirates Group and Chairman of the Higher Committee on World Expo 2020, and Giuseppe Sala, Milan Expo 2015 Commissioner. His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and the then Italian prime minister Enrico Letta witnessed the signature ceremony.
Giorgio Starace, Italian Ambassador to the UAE, tells GN Focus, “That is the first strategic agreement between two expos in history. Through Milan in 2015 there will be the launch of Dubai in 2020.”
The theme of Expo Milan is fitting for the town that retains its commitment to providing a good life to its inhabitants, even as it occupies a prominent position on the world economic map. According to the Expo Milano fact sheet, “The goal of Expo is to propose specific solutions that ensure the right to sufficient, healthy and safe nutrition, and to guarantee environmental, social and economic sustainability of the food industry.
“The problems and possible solutions to nutrition have become a strategic priority of the international community in a world where one in eight people (870 million human beings) are starving, 12 per cent of the population is obese and almost 800 million people do not have access to drinking water. Over the course of the year, participating companies and organisations will work together to illustrate excellence in food production techniques, strategies to combine production with energy efficiency, the use of renewable energy sources and the protection of natural resources.”
Milan Expo expects to draw about 21 million visitors, with more than 120 countries participating. Despite some hiccups due to arrests of prominent figures on charges of corruption, the Expo is expected to foster the country’s emergence from the economic crisis.
Reflecting the theme are the country pavilions. Designs for the prominent ones have been showcased already. At the pavilion representing France, for instance, vegetables, herbs and hops will be planted between the latticed timber structure, based around a vision of the market hall as a centre for agricultural production. The UK will bring in a beehive.
Austria’s pavilion, which carries the name team.breathe.austria, is about social change for environmental protection. The enclosed, rectangular pavilion will be lush with native Austrian vegetation, producing enough oxygen to sustain 18,000 people by the hour in a project that promotes forging a stronger bond between urban and natural living.
Italy’s pavilion, designed by Nemesi&Partners, is called the Urban Forest and is made of what looks like flat branches consisting of 900 panels of i.active biodynamic cement that will absorb air pollutants and convert them into inert salts.
