Breathtaking start of Expo 2020 Dubai

Dubai opened its extravagant Expo 2020 on Thursday with a flashy ceremony boasting fireworks and lights displays as it attempts to woo the world despite the pandemic.

The domed Al Wasl Plaza, centrepiece of the vast Expo site, was lit by spectacular projections as Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum declared the $7 billion event open.

“The entire world gathers in the UAE as we inaugurate together, with the blessing of Allah, Expo 2020 Dubai,” Sheikh Hamdan said.

It kicks off a six-month world fair attended by more than 190 countries, despite the European parliament’s call for member states to boycott over the United Arab Emirates’ human rights record.

Organisers are hoping for 25 million visits to Expo 2020, the first in the Middle East, which is set to be the most attended event since the pandemic. This year’s Tokyo Olympics went ahead largely without fans.

However, travel restrictions remain in place around the globe during a spectacle that was conceived pre-Covid-19 and is starting a year late.

Discounts are already being offered and Dubai government employees have been given six days off to attend the event.

Themes of sustainability and the planet’s future were prevalent in the lavish show at Al Wasl Plaza, centrepiece of the vast Expo site which sprawls across an area twice the size of Monaco.

Futuristic constructions dot the purpose-built showground in the Dubai suburbs, where countries are bidding to outdo each other for ingenuity and innovation.

The first world exhibition was held in London in 1851, when it was housed in the newly built Crystal Palace. The Paris edition of 1889 featured the Eiffel Tower, then intended as a temporary attraction.

Expo 2020 will be unmistakeably tinged by the pandemic, with masks and social distancing mandatory on site. Visitors need to be vaccinated or have a negative PCR test to enter.

The United Arab Emirates, population 10 million, has reported a rapid drop in coronavirus cases, falling below 300 this week — less than half the figure a fortnight earlier.

Dubai, one of the UAE’s seven emirates, has long strived for international recognition with projects such as the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building at 828 metres (2,717 feet).

But away from Thursday’s fireworks, concerns are being expressed about the UAE’s human rights record.

A succession of politicians, business leaders, celebrities and sports people are expected at the Expo, whose diverse attractions include the Harlem Globetrotters and a Chinese robot panda.

A full-scale hyperloop cabin, touted as the future of long-distance travel and transport, is among the exhibits, while Egypt has sent an ancient coffin from pharaonic days.

China has one of the largest pavilions — a LED-lit, lamp-shaped creation — while Morocco’s is made with traditional mud-building methods.

Israel is also taking part, a year after the UAE and the Jewish state normalised ties.

A glimpse of the Expo 2020 Dubai’s opening ceremony.