Delegates representing the 170 Member States of the BIE attended the meeting, which featured reports by Organisers of upcoming Expos, as well as presentations by the candidates seeking to organise World Expo 2025.
The first day of the meeting included reports by the Presidents of the Administration and Budget Committee, the Executive Committee, the Rules Committee, and by the Vice-President of the Information and Communication Committee. Member States gave their approval to the recommendations of the Executive Committee, which considered all three World Expo 2025 projects to be viable and in line with BIE regulations. Following the General Assembly’s approval of all three World Expo 2025 candidatures, Russia (Ekaterinburg), Azerbaijan (Baku) and Japan (Osaka) each presented their Expo projects to Member States.
The presentations came the day after the General Assembly approved the viability of all three Expo candidature projects, thus confirming their place in the election of the host country, which will take place at the 164th General Assembly on 23 November 2018.
Ekaterinburg, Russia
Russia was first to take the podium to present its bid for Expo 2025 in Ekaterinburg. Five speakers appealed to Member States to call on their support: Anton Siluanov, the first Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation, Evgeny Kuyvashev, Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region, Svetlana Sagaydak, Director-General of the Ekaterinburg World Expo 2025 Bid Committee, Olympic athlete Angelika Timanina, and the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexander Sergeev.
Presentation of the Russian EXPO 2025 project (click to view)
The delegation emphasised support for the Expo project, with the first Deputy Prime Minister stating: “for Russia, Expo 2025 is a project of primary importance…it found a response in the hearts of Russian people, it became a goal uniting our people.” A video message from Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev reaffirmed this support, expressing confidence that “Expo 2025 Ekaterinburg will be one of the most outstanding World Expos.” Backing for the project also came from the International Space Station, with another video message addressed to the General Assembly from cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Oleg Artemyev.
Mr. Kuyvashev outlined Ekaterinburg’s capacities to host the event, which would take place on a 555 ha site on the bank of the Verkh-Isetsky pond, and which would be transformed into a Smart City after the Expo. This Smart City, in line with the proposed theme “Changing the World: Innovations and Better Life for Future Generations”, would be “a place where existing and perspective innovative developments will be tested and implemented.”