TASS. On November 23, the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) will announce the host city for the World Universal Exhibition Expo-2025 in Paris. The cities considered to host the Expo-2025 are Yekaterinburg (Russia), Baku (Azerbaijan) and Osaka (Japan). The exhibition will be held from May 2 to November 2, 2025.
Russia has never hosted any World Universal Exhibitions. In 2002, Moscow lost the bid to Shanghai (China). In 2013, Yekaterinburg lost to Dubai (UAE), which will host Expo-2020.
Yekaterinburg’s bid
Yekaterinburg placed its bid for hosting Expo-2025 on May 22, 2017, and presented it in Paris during the 161st session of the BIE General Assembly on June 14, 2017. If the Russian city wins the bid, the theme of the upcoming exhibition will be "Changing the World: Innovations and Better Life for Future Generations."
A "Smart City" covering 555 hectares will be built next to the Verkh-Isetsky pond, about three kilometers from the city center. The site will accommodate a total of 103 pavilions, covering 184 hectares. According to the city development plan, the officials aim to build a large cultural and business complex with a sports center, and develop a park on the proposed site. By 2025, the city authorities plan to construct a bridge over the Verkh-Isetsky pond, a new metro line connecting the site to the city center, transport interchanges, a new airport terminal, and other infrastructure objects.
The organizers of the proposed World Exhibition claim that they will use renewable sources of energy almost exclusively.
About 150 countries are set to participate in Expo-2025, with the amount of potential visitors exceeding 14 million people.
Russia’s First Deputy Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, who heads the Expo-2025 Organizing Committee, stated that a system similar to the 2018 FIFA World Cup Fan IDs would be used to grant easy access to international visitors of the exhibition.
Development of the Expo-2025 Park
On December 19, 2017, Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region Yevgeny Kuivashev announced the bid for the best architectural and town-planning project aimed to develop the Expo-2025 site. The French architectural bureau Agence d'Architecture A.Bechu & Associes, which developed world exhibitions in Milan and Shanghai, won the bid. The bureau paid special attention to multifunctional infrastructure, which the Russian city must inherit after the exhibition is over. The architects also offered to create a museum of the region’s national identity and an art gallery of humanity’s global achievements.
Expo-2025 legacy
If Yekaterinburg wins the bid, a high-tech city space called "Smart City" will be constructed on the site of Expo-2025. Top Russian universities, such as the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, the Lomonosov Moscow State University, the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, will take part in its construction. Yekaterinburg’s Smart City will combine a unique natural landscape with city infrastructure.
The planned city space is expected to make Russia stand out among other bidders. If Japan wins the bid, it is planning to use the exhibition space to build a casino, while Azerbaijan will construct an exhibition center on the site.
In the future, Russian federal officials plan to give a special economic zone status to the Smart City space.
According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the total cost of the proposed development project will come up to €1.5 bln. The funds will be allocated from the federal and regional budgets. Ticket sales and exhibition activities, along with private investments, are set to cover the expenses.
"Ambassadors" of the Yekaterinburg bid
The traditional Russian nesting dolls, matryoshkas, serve as official symbols of Yekaterinburg’s Expo-2025 bid. Ten custom-made dolls set off to different countries across the globe in order to popularize Russia’s bid. Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region Yevgeny Kuivashev initiated the project. Prominent Russian artists designed all matryoshkas.