With a star-studded opening ceremony with an audience of 3,000 people that will feature top acts like world-famous tenor Andrea Bocelli, and will be streamed live to more than 430 locations across the UAE and around the globe, Dubai’s Expo 2020 will finally open its doors tonight, Arab News reports.
The first full day of the Expo on Friday will see continuation of the celebrations with three scheduled spectacular fireworks displays in Dubai to commemorate the journey from winning the bid in 2013 to opening the first World Expo in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.
The event was to open at the same time last year, but was postponed due to the global Covid-19 pandemic that has posed many challenges to the organizers, Kate Randall the Vice President of Expo 2020 Ceremonies, says.
The Crown Prince of Dubai, Hamdan Bin Mohamad, expressed his excitement on Twitter, posting a bird’s eye view video revealing the multi-billion dollar project with the caption “are you ready.”
The largest global event held since the start of the pandemic will give the participating nations a chance to promote their ideas on creating a better, more sustainable future and to showcase their achievements in architecture, industry, the arts, and intellectual pursuits, among other things.
Dubai Metro Route 2020 has completed transport links and has a capacity of 44,000 passengers per hour to and from the Expo site directly.
The expo site covering an area of 4.38 sqkm, will be home to more than 200 state-of-the-art pavilions for 192 countries, designed by brand-name architects, and its organizers expect some 25 million visits over the next six months
Saudi Arabia’s pavilion is the largest of all participating nations outside the UAE, and has won three Guinness world records: for longest water exhibit, largest LED mirror screen display and largest interactive floor.
Designating it among the most sustainable designs in the world, the US Green Building Council (USGBC) has also awarded the pavilion the LEED Platinum Certificate.
The Commissioner-General of the Kingdom at Expo 2020 Dubai, Hussain Hanbazazah, pointed that the pavilion will be their ‘window to the world,’ showcasing Saudi Arabia as it really is.
Designed by UK-based Boris Micka Associates, Saudi Arabia’s sloping pavilion spans an impressive 13,069 square meters, rising six stories above the ground, with unfolding rectangular façade that reaches to sky as if it is ready to take flight.
The 1,320 square-meter inclined mirrored screen is designed to showcase Kingdom’s ancient culture, heritage, the towering ambition of the Saudi people and unlimited rapid drive and innovation of its present and future ambitions under its national transformation plan, Vision 2030.
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