To host the Expo 2030 world expo, which draws millions of tourists and billions of dollars in investment every five years, Italy, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea are competing in Paris on Tuesday.

Over the past few months, the delegates of the three nations have been working feverishly to win over the 182 member states of the Bureau International des Expositions with showy lobbying events held in the French capital.

South Korea’s southeastern city of Busan is competing against Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh and Italy’s Rome.

Rome has placed a heavy emphasis on human rights and democracy in its bid to host the Expo, painting itself as a more ethical option than Riyadh, which is widely seen as the frontrunner.

“Rome is the most credible city for an expo which has as an objective sustainable development, an expo which respects human rights, diversity, dialogue, inclusion, women, the LGBTQ+ community, unions,” City Mayor Roberto Gualtieri told a conference last week.

“Certainly we have less economic capital to spend than others have done in asking for a direct vote … (but) if money that comes from the sale of fossil fuels is worth more than anything else, then we tell the world, ‘watch out how these events will turn out’,” he added.