Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways, Piyush Goyal reviewed the preparations underway for the construction of the Indian Pavilion at the Dubai World Expo 2020 which will take place for six months beginning 20th October 2020 up to 10th April 2021. The meeting was held in New Delhi where officials of the Department of Commerce, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), National Buildings Construction Corporation Ltd. (NBCC) and other stakeholders were present.

NBCC has bagged the Rs. 400 crore projects to build the Pavilion at Dubai World Expo 2020. The Pavilion will have booths displaying India’s gem and jewellery sector, Indian handlooms, entertainment industry, the hospitality and tourism sector. The theme of the Expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ with three sub themes – Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability – to generate sustainable solutions to global problems, demand and collaboration areas across cultures, countries and regions. The India Pavilion will be a permanent structure being constructed in the ‘Opportunity’ segment. The building will embody India’s worship of nature and will be environment friendly.

More than 25 million visitors are expected and 180 countries will be represented at the Expo. Commerce Minister urged the members who were the part of the meeting to think creatively keeping the Indian ethos in mind and explore all avenues to make the best of this opportunity provided by the Dubai World Expo. He said that India’s participation in the Expo may be a memorable and befitting one. Although the Expo ends after 6 months, the India Pavilion must continue to function as a showcase in Dubai which is visited by 17 million tourists in a year and India must explore all avenues to make the best use of the India Pavilion, permanently, he added.