After Dubai held the IMF-World Bank Group annual meeting in 2003, officially named Dubai 2003, it was described as the best-ever summit of the Group. Delegates, including governors of the annual meetings, were all praise for the arrangements made by the Dubai and UAE authorities in hosting the meetings.
Kaspar Villiger, the Swiss finance minister and chairman of the 2003 Annual Meeting, went to the extent of saying he was so impressed with Dubai’s success that the Swiss would seek Dubai’s help in organising such events in future. “Whenever Switzerland would have to organise such an event, we would ask the authorities of Dubai to send their organisation and planning staff,” he declared at a post-event press conference.
Wholesome praise by any means. Still one cannot forget the fact that it was Dubai in 2003. Considering that on the developmental timeline of Dubai, 2003 is at least half a century back from the present day, it is easy to imagine how the authorities must be looking at Dubai Expo 2020, the award of which is nearly a foregone conclusion when the 100 or so delegates of the exposition bureau’s general assembly are to vote next November.
Dubai has not started building the infrastructure for a mega-event like the Expo. Already, Dubai has been widely considered as the front-runner in the race, with the latest endorsement coming from The New York Times. The paper considers the kind of financial support and political clout that the Dubai bid enjoys as deal clinching, while it reckons all the other bidders as having serious issues.
According to the paper, political tensions mar the Russian and Turkish bids, while Sao Paulo in Brazil has the least chance of success. Thailand has already pulled out of the race.
A six-member team from the Bureau International des Expositions, responsible for overseeing the expos, had earlier prepared reports on each city and these reports are considered to be key in the final selection process. The team recently spent five days in Dubai gathering information and evaluating various factors.
Although the findings of the reports have not been made public, it is gathered that the team has favoured Dubai’s bid as most compelling.
A decision in favour of Dubai will prove to be a landmark in the history of the emirate. It might well be a new turning point for Dubai, which despite a number of setbacks, has come on top of all the troubles and resumed its march forward, a fact that stunned both supporters and critics.
Dubai has drummed up significant support for its bid through a global campaign. In May, the UK became the first country to announce officially that it was supporting the Dubai bid. British foreign secretary William Hague described the Dubai bid as exceptionally strong as it was focused on global connectivity and accessibility, and was underpinned by its geographical location and as a global logistics and transport hub.
It is widely believed that Dubai Expo 2020, like Dubai 2003, would be the best of all expos till its time, outshining Shanghai Expo 2010, which is considered to be the best so far. Shanghai was also the most expensive expo in its history.
The world knows that overhauling of past records is a pastime with Dubai. That the Dubai bid comes as a UAE government initiative adds further impetus.
Dubai plans to create virtually a new city to host the event, which will serve as a permanent attraction beyond 2020 and enhance the emirate’s infrastructure as a premier destination for high-profile global events in future.
The plan envisages the creation of additional transport links to accommodate about 25 million visitors to the expo, including the expansion of Dubai Metro to build of a new stretch of line from the existing terminus at Jebel Ali to Al Maktoum International Airport, which is next to the proposed Expo site at Dubai World Central.
— The writer is a journalist based in Dubai
