Alwaght- The Saudi Arabia's money and Italy's soft power took on each other this week in Paris for determining the host of the Expo 2030. The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni officials made their bids for hosting the world's largest fair.
Khalid al-Falih, Saudi Arabia's investment minister, announced that the country has allocated $7.8 billion to host Expo 2030.
In addition to Riyadh's bid, Rome and Busan are also competing to host the cultural and technological event.
Though the Saudis made official bid to host Expo 2030 last week, this issue has been discussed since a few months ago, following the visit of Dimitri Kerkentz, Secretary General of the Bureau of International Exhibitions (BIE), to Riyadh in March and meeting with bin Salman.
Now with the determination of the bidder, the members of the club in the UN in November will vote to pick a host, and every country can only vote for one bidder. France has backed Riyadh almost a year ago, and Brazil this week was the latest country to announce its support for Rome.
The last Expo 2020 was held in Dubai, UAE, which according to the UAE authorities had more than 24 million visitors from all over the world and is expected to have a total economic influence of $42.1 billion in gross added value to the UAE economy in the period from 2013 to 2042.
The next exhibition will be held in Osaka in 2025.
The Expo is one of the largest non-commercial global events in terms of economic and cultural impact after the Football World Cup and the Olympic Games.
The first Expo exhibit was launched in London in 1851 under the title ‘Great Exhibition of the Works of the All Nations’ .
It is said that the famous Eiffel tower in Paris is one of the most prominent elements of the historical heritage of this exhibition. This tower was built for the opening of Exposition Universelle of 1889, which was hosted by Paris.
Saudi dream; Vision 2030 meeting Expo 2030
Saudi Arabia is striving to host Expo 2030 while under Prince Mohammed, Riyadh unveiled in 2016 it ambitious Vision 2030 that is aimed at cutting dependence on oil revenues and turning the kingdom into the region's economic growth leader in 15 years. In fact coincidence of Expo 2030 with bin Salman's development plan will practically turn Expo into a platform on which Riyadh can show off its advances and modernization under Vision 2030.
Riyadh has witnessed significant growth in recent years. The population of this city has been on the rise in the past few decades and reached about 7.6 million in 2021. This increase in population has led to an increase in urban development projects and infrastructure improvements, such as the Riyadh Metro project and the King Salman Park project, which is set to become one of the largest urban parks in the world.
Additionally, Riyadh is coming up with initiatives such as the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD), which is meant to turn the capital into a leading financial center in the region, and the Riyadh Techno Valley as a technology park to foster innovation and entrepreneurship and inspired by Silicon Valley, has been more successful in technology growth than other cities in the kingdom.
According to the blueprint for location of the fair, the Expo 2030 is planned to be set up near King Salman Airport to facilitate easy access to the visitors through Riyadh Metro.
In blueprint of the exhibition, 226 pavilions are designed in spherical shapes with an equator passing through them.
According to the Saudi authorities, the design of the pavilions was inspired by the ancient urban style to introduce the history, culture, and natural attractions of Saudi Arabia. The kingdom has also announced that it plans to make Riyadh Expo 2030 the most sustainable and influential exhibition in history.
Lamia bint Abdulaziz Al-Mahna, a member of the Riyadh Expo 2030 team said: "This design will work on a version of the exhibition that will be flexible for visitors to move around the pavilions and be the most interactive exhibition ever, and provide an unprecedented experience.... We will provide high quality for more than 40 million visitors.”
“We aim to design the first eco-friendly exhibition optimized for zero-emission. The Expo 2030 site will use clean resources relying on solar energy and we are developing high standards for resource efficiency and detailed strategies to ensure biodiversity, elimination of food waste, and green management of waste recycling.
In general, the Saudis are trying to make a set of economic, social, and cultural benefits from Expo 2030.
Economic growth is the main driving force of the Saudi bid. Hosting this event encourages significant investment in infrastructure and services, creates thousands of new jobs, and boosts the local economy. Expo 2030 will also attract millions of visitors, leading to augmentation of tourism revenues and greater demand for local products and services. For example, the even in Dubai is estimated to have a $40 billion benefit influence on the UAE economy.
Tourism boost is a vital part of the Saudi economic diversification plan under Vision 2030. Since Saudi Arabia opened its doors to the world by issuing tourism visas, visitors from around the globe traveled to the kingdom to visit its historical sites, landscapes, and back-to-back art festivals. According to government data, last year, the country hosted 67 million visitors.
Promotion and introduction of economic opportunities of the country and the broader connection to the international economy and trade are other important goals of the Saudis for their Expo bid. Actually, holding the Expo with the focus on innovation and creativity introduces Saudi Arabia as a progressive and country. This increases the country's global reputation, attracts foreign investment, and results in further economic development.
Social development and advancement is an element that is seen by the Saudi leaders as the prerequisite for economic transformation and realization of the Vision 2030, and the Expo 2030 provides an opportunity to younger Saudi generation to interact with other countries and upgrade their knowledge and expertise levels.
Investment in infrastructure is another benefit that the Saudis are certainly seeking behind bidding for Expo 2030. For example, the $22.5 billion project to complete Riyadh Metro is related to the plan to host the Expo.
Rights criticism against Saudi hosting
Beside Riyadh's push for hosting the global event, there are not a few critics who suggest that the kingdom uses the bid to cover its human rights abuses, including crackdown on the opposition and executions, and call on the world community not to support bin Salman's bid.
Similar criticism targeted Riyadh in sports, where the Saudis signed record deals with world's football stars like Christiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema.
