Dubai is currently hosting Expo 2020 between October 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022. Meanwhile, on Monday, prominent international leaders praised the World of Expo and claimed that the Sustainable Development Goals could be achieved.
Maher Naseer, commissioner-general of the UN at Expo, said that the expansion of Expo 2020 from a desert to a meeting destination of over 250 nationalities from different backgrounds is indeed proof that the goals can be achieved to witness a change in the world. Naseer further said, “I can surely say that we can do it!”
He continued to explain why the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), for the first time in history, decided to move out the Global Goals Week from New York and approached Expo 2020 Dubai. He was quoted saying, “Currently, World Expo is the most premier event, across the globe, amid the Covid-19 pandemic as a total of 10 million people and world leaders, from 192 countries, come here. Therefore, we have decided to opt for Expo 2020 to organise the Global Goals week out of New York”.
He further emphasised that the nations should come together to achieve the SGDs by 2030 in the “second decade of action.” He added that it is time to join hands and work towards “revamping the health care and social systems and better economic stimulus”.
As the Covid-19 threat was looming over, Nasser said that it is impossible to meet the SDGs 2030. He said that “We were not on track to eradicate poverty and hunger, achieve gender equality or any other SDGs.”
The week’s highlights were elaborated by the senior vice-president of Communications at Expo, Sconaid McGeachin. She said that world leaders like Reem Al Hashimy (UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation and Director-General, Expo 2020), Mohammed Al Najjar (Minister of Water and Irrigation from Jordan), Bill Gates and Richard Curtis would participate in the event.
She further claimed that some prominent world leaders Amina Mohammed (Deputy Secretary-General, UN), Sanda Ojiambo (COO and Executive Director, UN Global Compact), and Jerome Forster II (White House Advisor), will mark their presence virtually.
The world leaders have been focusing on sustainable development goals as, for this time, the main idea behind Expo 2020 is ‘sustainability’.