Saudi Arabia snatches Expo 2030 rights from Italy and South Korea

The Bureau International des Expositions announced today, Tuesday, that the capital Saudi Arabia Riyadh Exhibition will be heldWorld Expo In 2030, it will be significantly ahead of the South Korean city Busan and Italy’s Rome.

According to the BIE results, Riyadh won 119 votes compared to Busan’s 29 and Rome’s 17, meaning Riyadh won two-thirds of the 165 votes cast.

Dimitri Kerkentzis, Secretary General of the Bureau International des Expositions, declared “Saudi Arabia a decisive winner at Expo 2030” and congratulated Riyadh on its “overwhelming victory”.

“This exhibition will be a catalyst for the transformation of the kingdom,” Kerkenzis told a press conference after the vote.

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will present a special version of Expo 2030,” said Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.

He added that Saudi Arabia will focus on the Sustainable Development Goals during its hosting of Expo 2030.

“We have developed many initiatives and we are committed to international cooperation and welcome you to Riyadh,” the Saudi minister said.

Dimitri Kerkentzis, Secretary General of the Bureau International des Expositions, told TV5 Monde in April 2022 that the exhibitions allow selected countries to “present themselves to the world” while becoming “laboratories for architects”.

For example, the Eiffel Tower in Paris was built for the 1889 World Expo, the Atomium in Brussels was built for the 1958 World Expo, and the Space Needle in Seattle, USA, was built for the 1962 World Expo.

Expo 2020 Dubai attracted 24 million visitors. The 2025 exhibition will be held in Osaka, Japan.

The first World’s Fair was held in London in 1851.