After a one-year delay owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, Dubai Thursday kicked off its USD 7 billion Expo 2020 on a desert site, which a media report described as equivalent to the size of 600 football fields.
According to the Khaleej Times, the Expo’s star-studded opening ceremony was streamed live to more than 430 locations across the UAE. The ceremony was attended by Abu Dhabi’s powerful Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and a host of other dignitaries.
The event will go on until March 2022 and is likely to see participants from over 190 countries. The city has decided on a target of 25 million visits — both virtually and in person.
According to the Associated Press, the Expo is one of the world’s first global events in the pandemic world, following an Olympics this summer in Japan that took place without spectators.
However, unlike Tokyo, the UAE has one of the world’s highest vaccination rates per capita and has seen its daily case numbers drop to their lowest levels in over a year.
