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Winning the rights to host the major global event is a coup for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s efforts to remake the kingdom’s international image.
By Emma Bubola and Vivian Nereim
Information from London and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia won the bid to host the 2030 World Expo on Tuesday, handing a triumph to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, as he seeks to reshape the authoritarian country’s foreign symbol. . . and their own.
The vote was held by the Bureau International des Expositions in Paris, which has 182 member countries, and the 165 delegates who were present cast secret ballots. Saudi Arabia won 119 of the 165 votes, easily defeating South Korea and Italy.
The victory gives Saudi Arabia a chance for itself at the global climax in the year it is intended to conclude the crown prince’s plan to diversify the oil-dependent kingdom’s economy, “Vision 2030. “
This victory also demonstrates how, once again, he was able to use the kingdom’s power, money, and influence to triumph over attempts to isolate Saudi Arabia on human rights issues. and efforts to stereotype it as a barren land with little to offer the world. It has sought to position itself as a key global leader and the kingdom as a premier destination for business and tourism.
“World Expo has great appeal for the Saudi leadership,” said Kristin Diwan, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. “The Saudis are determined to have a big coming-out party in 2030 to show the success of their vision.”
The three countries vying for the 2030 occasion have held impressive occasions in recent months to woo foreign delegates. But none seem to be as luxurious as Saudi Arabia’s. Delegates, for example, enjoyed a dinner of blue lobster tail and bony caviar on one occasion near Paris this month, according to Politico.
For its bid, Saudi Arabia unveiled a vast crusade aimed at the futuristic megaprojects that Prince Mohammed planned to build across the country through 2030, including a giant cube-shaped design that promotional videos describe as “a gateway to the world. “
His appearance in Paris on Tuesday included a video in which Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, whom the kingdom recently signed to play in its national league in a deal worth about $200 million, said: “My circle of Family and I, We had a great time here in Saudi Arabia.
The video also describes the kingdom as a “beacon of progress and sustainability” and a young, colorful country undergoing unprecedented change. “Our young people are leading change,” said Princess Haifa Al Mogrin, the kingdom’s delegate to UNESCO, at the presentation. .
Ahead of the World Expo in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, another will be set up in 2025 in Osaka, Japan. The most recent exhibition will be held in Dubai, a glittering emirate in the Persian Gulf with which Prince Mohammed has competed and emulated. Voting in the French capital – where the Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 Exposition – represents an opportunity for countries to attract global attention, millions of people, money and prestige, as well as create jobs and infrastructure.
Saudi Arabia’s victory adds to the kingdom’s success in securing big global events such as the 2029 Asian winter games and the 2034 World Cup. It has spent lavishly to draw some of the world’s greatest players to its soccer league and to its golf circuit, which then merged with the PGA Tour.
The kingdom, which announced its ambitions for the exhibition on billboards across Paris, said it would allocate $7. 8 billion to host the event. In June, Prince Mohammed himself attended a reception in the French capital to announce the Saudi bid.
On Tuesday night, a festive and peaceful spectacle lit up Riyadh with fireworks launched from the top of a skyscraper.
Over the past year, the kingdom had also courted deeper relationships with a number of states it previously had few or no connections to, exploring new investments and establishing diplomatic ties.
This month, Prince Mohammed hosted a summit of Caribbean leaders for the first time. In May, Colombia declared its official support for the kingdom’s bid for the Expo through the stopover of a Saudi delegation that pledged to open an embassy in the country. President Emmanuel Macron expressed his support for Saudi Arabia’s candidacy from the outset.
The Saudi offer has had its detractors. Last week, 15 human rights teams signed an open letter addressed to members of the International Bureau of Exhibitions, urging them to vote for Saudi Arabia because of its “record of violating basic human rights and restricting freedoms. “
Under Prince Mohammed, the conservative Islamic kingdom has noted a dramatic easing of social restrictions for women, along with a political crackdown on dissent that has deepened over the years.
Mayor Roberto Gualtieri of Rome — the city was Italy’s candidate to host the event — warned last week that a Saudi victory could mean a “grim, oppressive and dark” expo.
Early in his term, President Biden sought to isolate Saudi Arabia and Prince Mohammed over human rights abuses such as those committed in the war in Yemen and the killing of exiled Saudi publisher Jamal Khashoggi.
But time and again, the kingdom’s oil wealth and geopolitical influence have made it impossible to disregard. Mr. Biden visited last year, partly to seek the prince’s help in keeping down oil prices after Russia invaded Ukraine.
In Paris, Italy began its presentation to the expo voters with speeches by a British film producer and the Italian actress Sabrina Impacciatore, best known for her role in the HBO series “White Lotus.” It also enlisted the actor Russell Crowe, who starred in “Gladiator,” as an ambassador for its bid. But Italy finished a distant third, with 17 votes.
Some Italians expressed their sadness on social media. Claudio Cerasa, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Il Foglio, wrote in
South Korea, which finished second with 29 votes, also went to great lengths to publicize its bid to host its first World Expo in the port city of Busan, naming K-pop organization BTS as an ambassador, along with celebrities such as “Squid. “The star of the game, Lee Jung-jae.
The expo competition was not immune to the effects of the Israel-Hamas conflict and the war in Ukraine.
On Tuesday, Israeli news outlets reported that Israel — which has long wanted to establish formal relations with Saudi Arabia — had withdrawn its support for the Saudi bid because of Riyadh’s opposition to the war in Gaza. But Lior Haiat, a spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Ministry, rejected the report, saying that while the country did support Italy, it had never endorsed Saudi Arabia.
And in the presentations for the 2025 exhibition, the Russian representative announced that Moscow would not participate in the Osaka exhibition, having rejected its candidacy to host the 2030 event, due to the “biased” attitude of the member states.
Emma Bubola reported from London and Vivian Nereim from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. John Yoon contributed reporting from Seoul.
Emma Bubola is a journalist in London. Find out more about Emma Bubola
Vivian Nereim is the Times’ senior reporter covering the countries of the Arabian Peninsula. She is in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Find out more about Vivian Neréim
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