Expo 2020 Dubai Offers Africa a Huge Opportunity to Shape a Better World

Mary Nnah

For six months, from October 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022, Africa will have a global stage as it has never enjoyed before – a platform to showcase its potentials to change the future, not just of Africa, but of the world.

Expo 2020 Dubai will be an unmissable opportunity to respond to how our world has altered a launchpad for countries to share their desire for positive change, to broaden their horizons and exchange ideas that inspire action to tackle real-life challenges and Africa must play a leading, active role.

The world’s population is predicted to rise from 7.7 billion in 2019 to almost 11 billion by 2100 – with Sub-Saharan Africa accounting for most of the growth over the coming decades.

The youngest, fastest-growing continent on the planet is brimming with promise. How Africa embraces its accomplishments and overcomes its challenges, ranging from the global health pandemic to climate change, sustainable food supply, and equal access to the basic human rights of education, digitalisation and healthcare, will have enormous implications worldwide.

Many of Expo’s participating nations are eager to widen and deepen their ties with Africa, and Expo 2020 will be a global forum where Africa can share its plans and achievements, seek investments and solutions to its challenges, forge new relationships across the continent and across the globe, and continue its shift from donor-dependency to productive partnerships.

For the first time in the 170-year history of World Expos, every African nation will participate, each with its own pavilion, while the African Union will also host its own pavilion at Expo 2020 – a colourful arena devoid of national borders that will showcase Africa’s vast potential and ambitions, reflected in its Agenda 2063 aspirations, which address agriculture, transport, science and technology, and health.

Commissioner General of the African Union at Expo 2020 Dubai, Dr Levi Uche Madueke, said Africa has a lot to offer adding “With our rich natural resources, ingenuity and youthful population, there are many potential areas for growth.

“It is time for us to reach out to the world, for the world to understand us and see how they can collaborate with us. Expo provides the best platform for us to tell this story and promote a continent that is ready to move forward and a secure place to do business”.

Expo 2020’s sub themes of Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability go to the heart of the continent’s future aspirations: ensuring jobs, education and healthcare for all; offering easy and equitable access to transport and ideas; and balancing development with preserving the environment for future generations.

Building on the long-standing friendship between the UAE and Africa, one based on mutual respect and a shared vision, Expo 2020 offers African nations the opportunity to showcase their individual visions for the future.

Expo 2020’s Opening Ceremony on 30 September 2021 will herald the start of this incredible opportunity. From October 1, 2021, the UAE looks forward to jointly laying the foundations for a cleaner, safer, healthier and more prosperous tomorrow.

Africa’s participation at Expo 2020 can only help bring that exciting, optimistic new future a big step closer.