The general meeting of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), headquartered in Paris, will be held online on 1 December where it is expected that an application for registration of the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, submitted by the Japanese government, will be approved.
The meeting had originally been planned for June 2020 before being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Upon receiving approval, the government will begin recruitment activities, targeting approximately 150 countries. It will also make a cabinet decision on the Expo Basic Policy by the end of the year and the operating body, the 2025 Japan International Exposition Association, will announce its Basic Plan.
Since recruitment activities were not possible before approval of the application, the government plans to send a formal invitation to each country and international organization through diplomatic channels immediately after gaining approval.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet Secretariat’s International Expo Promotion Headquarters, headed by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, will play a central role in encouraging each country to participate through various channels.
In addition to the obstacle of international travel due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Dubai Expo scheduled for October this year in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been delayed by one year. This may delay focus on the 2025 Expo. The Japanese government is likely to seize opportunities such as video conferencing to appeal to each country to participate.
There are calls for the Doha International Horticultural Expo, which was scheduled to be held in Qatar for six months from October 2021, to be postponed for two years to October 2023 and this is also expected to be approved by the BIE in December.
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