UPDATES: World Expo 2020 announcement

27 November 2013

Live updates of the World Expo 2020 announcement in Paris

20:30 (Dubai time)

Dubai has won the World Expo 2020. Dubai recieved 116 votes in the final round to Ekaterinburg’s 47 with one abstention.

Read the full report here.

19:50 (Dubai time)

Dubai now looks set to win after gaining 52.7 per cent of the votes in the second round. Assuming the same members vote for Dubai again in the third round, the UAE delegation will take the World Expo 2020 prize back to the Gulf with them.

The third round of voting is now underway in Paris.

19:47 (Dubai time)

Second round voting: Dubai (87 votes), Ekaterinburg (41), Izmir (36)

19:45 (Dubai time)

Izmir has been eliminated after the seond round of voting.

19:10 (Dubai time)

First round voting: Dubai (77 votes), Ekaterinburg (39), Izmir (33), Sao Paolo (13). One member abstained.

19:00 (Dubai time)

Dubai has won 47 per cent of the vote in the first round. Sao Paolo is eliminated with 13 votes.

18:35 (Dubai time)

The results of the first round of voting are expected to be announced in the next 45 minutes

17:50 (Dubai time)

The first round of voting has started and likely to take an hour. The announcement is expected after 18:30, 19:30 or 20:30 depending on how many rounds are needed to decide the winner.

17:15 (Dubai time)

The 165 member nations of the BIE will vote in 15 minutes to select the host city for World Expo 2020

16:30 (Dubai time)

The delegates at the BIE are still at lunch. In the meantime, here is what Dubai winning the World Expo 2020 would look like in figures:

  • Financing costs: $7bn (Dubai government)
  • Impact of a successful bid: $23bn (BofA Merrill Lynch)
  • Expected attendees: 25 million (Expo 2020 Dubai)
  • Proportion of attendees from overseas: 70 per cent
  • Number of exhibiting countries and companies: 182 (Expo 2020 Dubai)
  • Jobs created between 2013 and 2021: 277,000 (Brand Finance)
  • Average GDP growth 2014-16: 6.4 per cent (Barclays)
  • Size of exhibition site: 4.4 square kilometres (Expo 2020 Dubai)
  • Number of new hotel rooms needed by 2020: 81,000 (Al-Ramz Securities)
  • Investment in hotel capacity required by 2020: $7.2bn (EFG Hermes)

15:35 (Dubai time)

  • Presentations for all four Expo 2020 bids have been made. The BIE delegates will start voting at 17:30 (14:30 in Paris) after a lunch break. The voting will not be aired live.

15:30 (Dubai time)

  • Izmir completes final presentation of the day
  • Izmir’s video presentation focuses connection between city’s history in the development of medicine and the proposed theme of the Expo
  • “With and after the Expo we will turn Izmir into a new health hub,” says Mehmet Muezzinoglu, Turkish minister of health
  • “The Expo will boost the rehabilitation of the Gulf of Izmir,” says Aziz Kocaoglu, mayor of Izmir, Turkey’s third largest city

15:00 (Dubai time)

  • Dubai presentation followed by proposals from Sao Paulo (Brazil) and Ekaterinburg (Russia)
  • “Sao Paulo is widely cosmopolitan and symbolizes our dynamism and talents” says Brazilian actress and poet Roberta Estrela D’Alva
  • Expo 2020 Sao Paolo would be the first Expo in Latin America
  • Ekaterinburg presentation included Nobel Prize winner Sir Andre Geim
  • “Russia has rapidly climbed the innovation ladder,” Sir Geim
  • “We are preparing a strong programme for the participation of developing countries” prime minister of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev
  • Presentation by Izmir has started
  • Turkey claims to have the backing of 60 countries for the Izmir bid - a significant proportion of the BIE’s total membership of 165

14:30 (Dubai time)

  • Reem al-Hashemi completed 20-minute presentation of Dubai bid at 14:16
  • Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo backed Dubai bid in presentation.
  • Dubai has pledged to make the World Expo 2020 the largest ever expo with 25 million visitors and the world’s “first carbon-neutral mega event” in its presentation to the Bureau International des Exhibitions (BIE) General Assembly in Paris.
  • The UAE’s visiting delegation to France includes 10 members of the UAE cabinet, according to Dubai’s 20 minute presentation, which is the first of four at the event.
  • Dubai promised a “meaningful and far-reaching legacy”, an “opportunity to unlock potential” and an event to “inspiring a greater region of 200 million people”.
  • The bid supports the idea of ‘one nation, one pavilion’, which means that the 247 expected participants will be equally represented at the event.
  • Dubai’s presentation is followed by proposals by Ekaterinburg in Russia, Izmir in Turkey and Sao Paulo in Brazil.

Destination Dubai 2020
On 28-29 January 2014, MEED will hold its Destination Dubai 2020 event. The two-day conference will bring together the emirate’s key government-related entities and stakeholders to discuss their respective growth plans and outline Dubai’s ongoing expansion to 2020 and beyond. For the very latest information regarding this event, please visit www.destinationdubai2020.com

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