Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced the country’s intention to bid to host the World Expo 2030 at its capital city Riyadh, in line with the ruler’s push to transform the kingdom’s economy and diversify it away from oil.
Riyadh has submitted a formal request to the World Expo organizing body, the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), with a proposed theme of “The era of change: Leading the planet to a foresighted tomorrow.”
The Crown Prince said that the World Expo 2030 would serve as an “extraordinary opportunity to share with the world our lessons from this unprecedented transformation.”
“We live in an era of change, and we face an unprecedented need for humanity’s collective action. It is clear that the whole world, as a collective, needs to work together to foresee the future and address, with its brightest minds, the challenges, and opportunities that emanate from this change,” the Crown Prince noted in a letter to the BIE.
The regional business hub, the UAE, which is an economic competitor of Saudi Arabia, is currently hosting the Expo 2020 world fair, which was delayed for a year by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In response to the Saudi’s bid to host Expo 2030, the UAE Vice President and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum tweeted, “We will give our brothers access to the knowledge and experience we gained throughout seven years of preparation for the Expo.”
The Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC), which is the overarching authority responsible for the City of Riyadh and is chaired by the Crown Prince, will lead the Saudi bid for the World Expo 2030.
Prince Mohammed said the 2030 Expo in Riyadh would coincide with the culmination of the kingdom’s economic reform program known as Vision 2030, and enable the country to share lessons from that program.
