Expo Dubai 2020 hosts the conference 'Expo Talks: Travel and Connectivity'

Expo Dubai 2020 continues with its pre-event programming for the upcoming Dubai 2020 World Expo, which will be the first World Expo to be held in the MEASA (Middle East, Africa and South Asia) region. “Expo Talks: Travel and Connectivity”, a series of panel discussions and talks exploring digital connectivity as a universal human right and connectivity across key sectors such as mobility, transport and logistics, governance, and education and travel. 

Live-streamed on 16th February, this digital event will spotlight topics such as smart mobility, artificial intelligence (AI) for good, virtual learning, remote work, data privacy and digital connectivity, and e-governance. The event will feature high-profile panelists, including international experts and official Expo 2020 partners.  

Reem bin Ibrahim al-Hashemy, Minister of International Cooperation and CEO of Expo 2020, Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline, and Hatem Dowidar, CEO of telecommunications company Etisalat Group, are among the invited panellists.   

Participating countries Bhutan and Portugal will address the future of sustainable tourism. In addition, Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid will participate in a panel on digital services and solutions in the COVID-19 era.   

The conference on 'travel and tourism in the post-COVID world' will explore how Emirates is helping to rethink travel during and after the pandemic, as well as the impact of the coronavirus on the tourism sector and the role technology can play in mitigating the effects and increasing travel opportunities.   

Expo Dubai had already organised other events prior to the Expo, such as the Urban and Rural Development Week, which took place between 3 and 4 November last year, and the Knowledge and Learning Week, which took place between 15 and 16 December.   

The aim of the former was to analyse the future of smart technology and its application in cities to create sustainable environments. The event was organised in collaboration with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and Siemens, a partner company for the digitisation of infrastructure at the World Expo. Development and technology experts from around the world discussed these issues at the event, which, as on this occasion, was attended by the Minister for Cooperation.  

The conference in mid-December, also held virtually, was organised in collaboration with the philanthropic organisation Dubai Cares. How knowledge can drive the creation of a global community and help innovate a better future for humanity as a whole by making progress in science, medicine and sustainability was the question that this conference sought to answer, which also analysed the situation of the creative industries, the knowledge economy and tourism. 

As for the infrastructures of the World Expo, a fundamental element in this type of international fairs, in mid-January, Expo Dubai showed one of the first to be built, Earth: the Sustainability Pavilion, which opened to the public on 22nd January and will remain accessible until 10th April.   

Another of the most striking infrastructures for its technological innovation that have been developed for the Expo is the Al-Wasl dome, located in the heart of the fair, which was recently lit up in red to commemorate the arrival of the Hope probe to Mars, the first Emirati project on the Red Planet.   

Dubai World Expo 2020 will open its doors for good between 1 October and 31 March 2022. It will bring together 200 countries and, in addition to exploring the future of humanity, will be a symbol of the modernisation of the United Arab Emirates.