Expo 2020 Dubai joins DWIC team in Shanghai

DUBAI / WAM

Expo 2020 Dubai is to join a high-profile delegation at Dubai Week in China (DWIC) to build and reinforce strategic relationships and highlight the opportunities that the mega-event presents.
A team from Expo 2020 Dubai will attend ‘Dubai Week in China 2016’ from October 27-29, which aims to promote trade between Dubai and China. Expo 2020’s attendance at the conference underlines the importance of China to the success of the Expo 2020 Dubai, the first mega-event of its kind in the MEASA region.
Gillian Hamburger, Vice President of Commercial, Expo 2020 Dubai, said, “We are here at Dubai Week in China to connect with businesses who can work with us to build an incredible event, and who can help us to attract and welcome hundreds of thousands of Chinese visitors to our World Expo. China is a key component in the success of Expo 2020 Dubai.”
Expo 2020 Dubai will be the most international of World Expos yet, with 70% of the expected 25 million visitors to come from outside the UAE. China is the world’s largest source of tourists – 59 million in the first half of 2016 – and the Expo 2020 team will seek to encourage Chinese visitors to attend the Expo between October 2020 and April 2021.

More than 200,000 Chinese expatriates live in the UAE and, in 2015, Dubai welcomed 450,000 tourists, an increase of 29% on the previous year. In September 2016, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, announced that visas would be granted on arrival to visitors from the People’s Republic of China.

The Expo 2020 team will also present the opportunities for businesses, including the possibility of global brand exposure through the Official Partnership Programme. There are also infrastructure and construction tenders and service provision opportunities from the current preparatory stage through to the event phase, and beyond.

Chinese involvement in Expo 2020 Dubai comes at a time when the UAE is moving to an increasingly diverse economy, and will build on the existing strong trade relations between the two nations. Bilateral trade was valued at US$48bn in 2015 and China’s investment in the UAE is close to $2.33bn. There are more than 4,200 Chinese companies registered in UAE according to the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Almost 60% of trade between China and the UAE is re-exported to Africa and Europe, which further illustrates Dubai’s status as a strategic commercial centre and regional hub.

The Expo 2020 team will hold a special session for Dubai Week in China attendees on Thursday 27 October when it will present opportunities for Chinese private sector involvement in infrastructure projects and services provision. It will also explain some of the benefits of the mega-event visitor experience, such as the platform for cross-cultural learning.

This year’s event in Shanghai will build on the success of the first Dubai Week in China, which took place in Beijing in May 2015.