Sharjah 24 – WAM: Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Saturday met with Wakamiya Kenji, Japan’s Minister for the World Expo 2025, at the Japanese pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai.

The Japanese minister shared with Sheikh Hamdan his country’s preparations to host the next edition of the World Expo, which is scheduled to take place from 13 April to 13 October 2025, in Yumeshima Island in Osaka, Japan. The upcoming Expo 2025 will be the third time Osaka will be hosting the global event after two previous editions in 1970 and 1990.

In November 2018, Japan won the bid to host the World Expo edging out the Russian city of Yekaterinburg and the Azerbaijani capital Baku.

During the meeting, Sheikh Hamdan said Dubai is committed to sharing the knowledge, expertise and insights it has acquired from its successful hosting of Expo 2020 Dubai with the organisers of World Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai.

The Japanese minister shared with Dubai Crown Prince the progress of plans to host the upcoming mega global event at a site in Yumeshima Island, which is set to welcome about 150 countries and 25 international organisations.

Sheikh Hamdan expressed the hope that Dubai’s experience will contribute to the success of Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai and support the global event’s efforts to shape a better future for humanity.

The meeting was attended by Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence and Commissioner-General of Expo 2020; Lieutenant General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police; Mattar Al Tayer, Director General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA); Helal Saeed Al Marri, Director General of the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism; Japan’s Ambassador to the UAE Akio Isomata; and Tomiyasu Nakamura, the Commissioner General of the Japanese Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai.