PARIS/YEKATERINBURG, June 15. /TASS/. Russia officially submitted an application of the city of Yekaterinburg to host the World Universal Exhibition Expo-2025.

The presentation was held on Wednesday under the auspices of the International Bureau of Exhibitions (BIE) at the headquarters of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris.

Yekaterinburg is Russia’s fourth largest city and the administrative center of the Sverdlovsk region (Russia’s Urals area).

"Today I am here to assure you that the Russian government fully supports Yekaterinburg's efforts to hold the Worldwide Universal Exhibition Expo-2025, " Yevgeny Kuyvashev, governor of the Sverdlovsk region, told delegates of the General Assembly of the BIE.

According to him, "Yekaterinburg's application is a priority for the entire Russian state, and for residents of the city and all people in Urals." It is also "a powerful positive incentive that strengthens our society," he said.

A representative with the office of the governor said that Yekaterinburg has good chances to win the right to host Expo-2025.

"Our city located in the very heart of the Eurasian space is the fourth largest city in Russia. It is easy to get there by air, by rail and road transport."

The head of the Sverdlovsk region noted that the region is one of the largest industrial centers of the country. Such large world companies as Siemens, Boeing, Mitsubishi, Saint-Gobain operate there, the office of the governor said in a statement.

During the presentation Sverdlovsk delegation stressed that Yekaterinburg hosted summits of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa), Russia-EU, as well as major cultural and sport events.

"This year the capital of the Urals will host the first world congress for people with disabilities, and in 2018 - matches of the World Cup," the department said in statement.

Expo-2025

The rivals of Yekaterinburg to host the exhibition are Paris, Japan's Osaka and Azerbaijan's Baku.

It is planned that Expo-2025 will be held from May 2 to November 2, 2025.

The Russian city entered its candidacy on 22 May 2017 under the theme "Changing world: inclusive innovation is for our children and future generations."

The venue of Expo-2025 will be determined at the 164th General Assembly of the BIE in November 2018.

World Universal Exhibitions are held every five years. The previous exhibition was held in Milan, Italy, in 2015. The next event will be held from October 20, 2020 to April 10, 2021 in Dubai (UAE). Earlier, Yekaterinburg also applied for holding Expo-2020, but Dubai’s application received the majority of votes of the General Assembly of the BIE.