Special Features
Emiratis scale Mount Kilimanjaro in support for Expo 2020
In an initiative to highlight the U.A.E.’s bid to host Expo 2020 in Dubai, Expo bid premier partner DP World has supported a group of young people from the UAE to take the Expo Bid flag to the highest point in Africa - the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Twenty-three year old Emirati Hamad Sharaf and five climbing companions from Lebanon and Canada who are residents of the U.A.E. spent six days trekking to the top of the 5,895 metre high mountain where they proudly flew the Expo flag. Hamad Sharaf said, "We wanted to show our support for the bid and we thought climbing the highest mountain in Africa was symbolic of how, with passion and determination, obstacles can be overcome and challenges met. It is this spirit that has made Dubai and the UAE what they are today, and it is that spirit that makes our bid for Expo 2020 so strong." He added, "Hosting Expo in 2020 is hugely important for Emiratis and other UAE residents of my generation, giving us the opportunity to connect and share ideas with people from around the world. That our climbing team was made up of a number of different nationalities also reflects the diversity of the U.A.E., which around 200 nationalities call home. "We hope to be able to celebrate when the votes are cast next month." The 167 member countries of the Expo secretariat, the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), will vote on 27 November on who will host Expo in 2020. There are four finalists - the U.A.E., Russia, Turkey and Brazil. Under the theme ’Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’, Dubai’s Expo 2020 bid focuses on three areas: Sustainability, Mobility and Opportunity. Around 250 BIE delegates are currently visiting Dubai for a two day symposium to hear more about the theme of the proposed Expo and to get to know Dubai and the UAE.
