The “Dubai Expo-2020”, one of the largest expositions of the world, would begin from October 1 in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates where Bangladesh would highlight its various achievements of the last 50 years. “The six-month-long exposition will continue till March 31, 2022 and Bangladesh will highlight its achievements of 50 years before the whole world at the Expo,” said Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi.
The Commerce Minister was addressing a press conference at Bangladesh Secretariat today convened to brief the media about the various aspects of the Expo. He informed the after the Olympic event and the FIFA World Cup Football, the World Expo is being regarded as the 3rd biggest global event of the world where economic development, business potentials, and cultures of various countries are being highlighted. “We’ll highlight at the Expo the various achievements of Bangladesh in different fields including in trade, commerce and the overall economy of the country of the last 50 years,” he added.
He said that as part of the preparations for taking part at the Expo, a double-storey pavilion of Bangladesh has already been set up while all the necessary preparations in this regard have been completed. Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh, former FBCCI vice president Siddiqur Rahman, Commerce Ministry additional secretary (export) M Hafizur Rahman, Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) vice chairman AHM Ahsan, Commerce Ministry joint secretary (export) Abdur Rahim Khan, were present, among others, at the press conference.
The Dubai Expo-2020 was supposed to take place last year, but it could not be held due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The last World Expo took place at Milan in Italy in 2015. The Commerce Minister said that apart from showcasing potentials products, the products related to Bangladeshi culture and heritage would also be projected at the Expo.
He also hoped that through this Expo, it would be possible to highlight the overall achievements of Bangladesh before the whole world in a strong way. Tipu said that marking the centenary birth celebration of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the ideology, spirit as well as the contributions of Bangabandhu during the War of Liberation would be highlighted at the Expo side by side the pioneering role of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in women’s empowerment would also be projected.
He said that alongside projecting the achievements of Bangladesh in different fields, various products, innovative ideas, national brand, tourism and positive business environment would be given emphasis to further brighten the image of the country. Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh said that unlike other Expo, there is a huge scope for Bangladesh to project the country’s history and culture at the Dubai Expo. Besides, all necessary preparations have been taken to highlight Bangladesh as an emerging economy.
He informed that various programmes would be arranged at the Bangladesh pavilion marking various national Days while the national flag would be hoisted in the pavilions of all the countries marking the Victory Day on December 16. The theme of the Dubai Expo-2020 is “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future” while the three other sub themes are “Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability”.
The organizers hoped that some 25 million visitors would gather at the Expo featuring 200 pavilions of some 192 countries. Meanwhile, a display center has been set up at the two-storey Bangladesh Pavilion having a space of 436 square meters at the Dubai Expo-2020 where there would be digital expositions, offices, conference rooms, B to B meeting halls. The exhibition title of the Bangladesh Pavilion has been set at “Indomitable Bangladesh: Towards Sustainable Development”.