Dubai: Italy, the host of the 2015 World Expo, said it is backing Dubai’s bid for the 2020 World Expo, making the country’s expression of support a “bridge between the two Expos”.

Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta expressed his country’s support in his letter to His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, delivered on the opening day of the Dubai Airshow 2013.

“In a world more and more integrated and interdependent, the UAE metropolis, where around 200 nationalities live and work in harmony to build a common project, represents an outstanding model of development, in tune with the theme chosen for the Expo,” Letta said, stressing the bilateral relations are excellent and characterised by constant growth, both at the political and economic level.

Giorgio Starace, Italian Ambassador to the UAE, said this expression of support is significant internationally because Milan is hosting the World Expo in 2015, five years before the winning candidate city hosts the next Expo. “We think that if Dubai will prevail, there are vast possibilities of cooperation between Milan Expo and Dubai Expo in terms of transfer of experience and services,” Starace told Gulf News.

“We are very ready to contribute our Expo experience and learnings from the Milan Expo and have a very important bridge between the two Expos,” he added.

Despite its deep roots with the other candidate cities, namely, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Yekaterinburg, Russia, and Izmir, Turkey, Starace said Italy chose Dubai with which it has very deep and growing relations. But another reason for their decision is Dubai’s cosmopolitan nature.

“Dubai is the perfect candidate to host the Expo because it is a universal city. It is already globalised and it’s so connected to the world,” Starace said.

Starace said diplomatic relations between Italy and the UAE started just a few years after the seven emirates formed into a federation in 1972.

The UAE is the first export market of Italy in the Arab world with €5.5 billion (Dh27.27 billion) in exports in 2012.