WGS 2018: World Expos Are A Chance For People To Come Together In A Way That Technology Cannot Satisfy, Experts Note

World expos offer an opportunity for people from across the planet to be united in a spirit of friendship that technology cannot satisfy, panelists said during a discussion on Expos as part of the Global Policy Platform on day two of the World Government Summit in Dubai.

“Nothing can replace human to human contact,” said Her Excellency Reem Al Hashimi, Minister of State for International Cooperation and Managing Director of Expo 2020. “Too much digitization without a human face will not create the connections that we need. And that’s why expos are so important.”

Dubai will host Expo 2020 on the theme ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ from October 20, 2020 to April 10, 2021.

Also on the panel, which was part of the summit’s Global Policy Platform, were Joe Kaeser, Chief Executive Officer of Siemens, and Wang Jinzhen, an organizer of the Shanghai Expo in 2010 and chief representative of the China pavilion at the 2015 Milan World Expo.

Kaeser said that after Expo 2020, Siemens will move its global headquarters for airports, cargo and ports logistics to the expo site. Kaeser indicated that “there might be” a further element to the company’s expo site plan, to be announced in the future. Siemens will be part of a new mini-city on the expo site after the event ends, Her Excellency Al Hashimi noted. The site, she said, will become “an extension of the city of Dubai towards Abu Dhabi.”