The Israel Pavilion at the Dubai Expo 2020 was officially opened with an inauguration ceremony. Some 300 guests from Israel and the United Arab Emirates attended the ceremony on Thursday, which was led by Dr. Ahmad Belhoul, UAE Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium Enterprises.
It is the first time that the State of Israel has a national pavilion in such a large and prominent event in an Arab country. Israel was invited by the UAE to participate in the Expo in 2018, prior to the country’s decision to establish official ties with Israel, according to Israel’s Tourism Ministry.
The Israeli Pavilion, titled “Connecting Thoughts – Creating the Future,” was created by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the participation of 17 different government ministries, KKL-JNF and the Israel Electricity company. The theme of the pavilion is “Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability.” It is estimated that around 15 million people will visit the Israeli pavilion during the course of the event.
Meetings are expected to take place at the Israeli Pavilion, including a variety of economic events, seminars, and business meetings in the fields of smart transport, agriculture, water, fintech, medicine, science, artificial intelligence, health, cyber protection, renewable energy, tourism, sustainability, social economy and others. Dozens of business delegations from Israel and around the world are expected to visit the pavilion and hold business meetings.
Some 25 million visitors are expected to view the expo over the next six months. There are 190 countries participating in the event. The world expo is held in a different country every five years.