Italy's foreign minister Luigi Di Maio and his Emirati counterpart Abdallah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan will on Sunday attend the ‘1 Year to Go’ event in Matera and outline Italy's participation at the Expo Dubai 2020, the foreign ministry said in a staetment.
The Matera event represents "a symbolic passing of the torch from Expo Milano 2015 and Expo Dubai 2020, at exactly one year from its opening" and will also be attended by Italy's education minister Lorenzo Fioramonti and the Italian Government’s Commissioner General for Expo 2020 Dubai, Paolo Glisenti, according to the statement.
The theme of the Italy Pavilion is “Beauty Connects People”, which will present Italian culture, innovation and goods to the more than 25 million visitors expected in Dubai, the statement said.
Fields of Italian excellence to be showcased include art and science, tradition and technology, creativity and beauty as instruments to promote dialogue between cultures and design our future word, the statement went on.
Expo Dubai 2020, which will run from 20 October 2020 to 10 April 2021, is the first Universal Expo organised in an Arab Country and will be dedicated to the theme “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”.
Italy was the first G7 Country to formalise its participation in the Expo 2020, which will involve numerous institutional partners, as well as representatives from the world of academia, science, creativity, sports, media and music.
“1 Year to Go” will also be another important opportunity to give international visibility to Matera, which was already proclaimed the European Capital of Culture 2019 and a leader in the capacity to attract tourism to the South of Italy.
Di Maio and bin Zayed al-Nahyan will also have a bilateral meeting to review the partnership and the trade opportunities between Italy and the United Arab Emirates. At the close of the meeting, Minister Di Maio will hold a press point at the Hotel Palazzo Viceconte, the statement concluded.
