Supporting Dubai’s bid for Expo 2020 very publicly was a big deal for the United Kingdom. The UK had never come out publicly to support an Expo candidate city before. But Dubai was different. Let me explain why.

There were some excellent competitors among the Expo candidate cities, but the UK judged Dubai’s bid was outstanding. There were many reasons for this.

Firstly, Expo is a great showcase for innovation: It seemed to us in the UK that Dubai is one of the most extraordinary success stories of urban innovation — the iconic structures, the vision for its development. This is a fabulous backdrop for an Expo host city.

Second, Expo is about the future. Just like the Great Exhibition in the UK, one of the first Expo-type events over a century-and-a-half ago, Dubai 2020 will look to the shift in global power we will see during this century, acting as a Middle Eastern hub in a globally connected world. As the UK, we wanted to support that vision for the UAE and to become a partner for it.

The question then was whether, as the UK, we would go public about our support. Countries do not normally do this. Typically, candidate countries lobby ahead of the vote, but never really know who is going to vote for whom.

The UK took a different view this time. We were clear that the UK wanted Dubai to win. So we started to think about how we could help make that happen with the UK’s unique position of influence — being the only country which combines being at the heart of the Commonwealth, one of the UN Security Council’s permanent five members and within the European Union. The UK judged that a public declaration of its confidence in Dubai could help persuade others. Given that the UK was also recognised as the host of one of the most successful Olympics ever in 2012, having its weight behind Dubai’s bid would really underpin the city’s credibility.

We engaged at length with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Dubai authorities to see how we could partner most effectively to maximise our impact. The UK’s Foreign Secretary, William Hague, then announced the British decision to parliament, very publicly, and many of us — myself included — went on to TV, Twitter and the print media to publicise British support. An editorial by Prime Minister David Cameron, setting out the case for Dubai 2020 was probably the single most important element of the UK’s campaign, along with the conversations which followed with all the global leaders who asked the UK about Britain’s position. Clearly, the Emiratis were in the lead, but I am proud of the British diplomacy which spread the word alongside UAE’s efforts.

Was this worthwhile? Undoubtedly, I am delighted with the result, along with all of us from the UK. I am even more pleased that we have been able to contribute to Dubai’s triumph. This is a great achievement for the UAE. The UK, with all of its experience of moving from winning the Olympics bid in 2005 to delivering a world class London Olympics 2012, look forward to partnering with Dubai wherever it can help the realisation of the dream that is Dubai 2020

Dominic Jermey is the British Ambassador to the UAE.