The rental agreement of an EXPO 2020 Dubai Pavilion has been signed by the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Latvia Hanan Khalfan Obaid Ali Al Madhani on behalf of the United Arab Emirates and Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Economics, official representative of the Republic of Latvia at EXPO 2020 Dubai Raimonds Aleksejenko on behalf of Latvia.
As it is known, the international Expo 2020 Dubai in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, was originally scheduled for the period from 20 October 2020 to 10 April 2021, but due to the spread of Covid-19, the exhibition was rescheduled to the period from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022.
The rental agreement provides that Latvia will participate in the exhibition using an already constructed pavilion, which will be arranged according to the theme of the exhibition, in which business and cultural events of Latvia will be organised.
During the meeting with the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates R. Aleksejenko emphasised that the international exhibition “EXPO 2020 Dubai” was an important event for Latvia and the world as a whole, as it would probably be the first global event after overcoming the COVID-19 crisis and would play a major role in the context of recovery of national economies. The purpose of Latvia’s participation in the exhibition is to promote Latvia’s visibility, both in the Middle East region and globally, thereby contributing to the competitiveness and export of our businesses, as well as attracting foreign investment.
At the same time, current development in the organisation of the exhibition were discussed during the meeting. R. Aleksejenko informed about the new Latvian participation organisation model, in which the Latvian Investment and Development Agency took an active role. He also presented himself as the new official authorised representative of the Republic of Latvia at EXPO 2020 Dubai, indicating that he would continue to work more closely with the organisers of the exhibition and the embassy of the United Arab Emirates, and thanked the organisers of EXPO 2020 Dubai for their willingness to ensure Latvia’s participation.
The meeting was also attended by the ambassador of the Republic of Latvia to the United Arab Emirates Atis Sjanīts, Director of the Foreign Trade and Foreign Economic Relations Promotion Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Zigmārs Zilgalvis, the exhibition country manager of EXPO 2020 Dubai Majed Al Suwaidi and head of the Foreign Economic Representation in the United Arab Emirates of the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia Inga Ulmane.
During the talks, all stakeholders acknowledged the importance of the event and agreed to continue to cooperate actively in order to ensure Latvia’s participation in the exhibition and the achievement of the pursued objectives.
As it is known, on 5 December 2017, the Cabinet of Ministers supported participation of Latvia in Expo 2020 Dubai international exhibition, which was initially scheduled for the period from 20 October 2020 to 10 April 2021. At the meeting of 22 October 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers supported the proposal of the Ministry of Economics to entrust the further organisation of the exhibition to the Latvian Investment and Development Agency.