Tomorrow, organizers are set to reveal the host city for the 2030 World Expo. Rome in Italy, the Saudi capital Riyadh, and South Korea’s Busan are competing to be chosen as the location for this prominent event, held once every five years.
The World Expo, which traces its history back to the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, is a months-long mega event attracting millions of visitors that aims to respond to the specific challenges of the current time.
The hosting of this year’s event has been the subject of particularly intense lobbying from Italy, Saudi Arabia and South Korea, whose governments are all keen to have the honor of the 2030 World Expo.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has been at the forefront of the Kingdom’s efforts to host the Expo, which would be the latest in a line of events to be hosted by the Kingdom.

It is set to host the 2034 football World Cup after emerging as the only bidder for the event.
But Rome and Seoul have also not stinted in their efforts.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was in the French capital only last week to make a final pitch for Busan’s bid, while Italy’s Premier Georgia Meloni has pressed Rome’s cause in Paris and elsewhere.

Russia, Ukraine out

The hosting of the Expo is regulated by the Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), an organization created almost a century ago which now has 182 member states.

The host is chosen at the BIE’s general assembly on Tuesday with the candidates making a final presentation and then the winner is chosen in rounds of voting by the member states in the afternoon.

Every member state – big or small – has a single vote, meaning a vast global campaign is needed to ensure victory.

Busan wants to hold the Expo from May-October 2030 under the theme “Transforming Our World, Navigating Toward a Better Future.”

Rome plans the Expo in the same period to be about “People and Territories: Regeneration, Inclusion and Innovation.”

A Riyadh Expo would be from October 2030 to March 2031 under the theme “The Era of Change: Together for a Foresighted Tomorrow.”

The most recent World Expo took place in 2020 in Dubai and the next World Expo is due in 2025 in Osaka, Japan under the theme “Designing Future Society for Our Lives.”

Other bids for 2030 came from the Russian capital Moscow and the Ukrainian city of Odesa. But Russia withdrew its bid in May 2022 shortly after its invasion of Ukraine in February that year, while Odesa did not make the final shortlist of three announced in June.