France faces many uncertainties ahead of the Dubai World Expo

Aerial view of Dubai.

(Drawing).

AFP / File

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3 min

The Dubai World Expo will kick off on October 1, 2021, one year after the event was announced.

The coronavirus pandemic has indeed complicated the task of the organizers and the national pavilions.

That of France was notably confronted with material supply difficulties.

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With our correspondent in Dubai

,  

Nicolas Keraudren

Work on the France pavilion at the Dubai World Expo is almost complete.

But the postponement of the event, linked to the health crisis, had

particularly budgetary consequences

.

“ 

This postponement obviously has an impact.

Because a construction site faced with Covid-19 is an additional construction cost

, explains Erik Linquier, president of the Compagnie française des Expositions.

This represents between 15 and 20% of additional cost therefore with issues of economy and rationalization.

It is also a greater difficulty in recruiting sponsors and companies which are obviously also confronted with uncertainty.

We had a complicated period in the summer of 2020

”.

In addition to these constraints, the programming of the France pavilion has also been redesigned.

Erik Linquier continues: “ 

The challenge was to place the Expo in a global context which has obviously changed a lot in one year.

The challenge was also to be totally consistent with the changes that the Expo itself was making.

In particular by restructuring the entire theme and programming of the event around sustainable development objectives.

"

The organizers hope to make the World Expo a symbol of the global economic recovery.

🗞️ Erik Linquier for @AlBayanNews:



"The Universal Expo is an excellent opportunity to promote our country and our regions full of assets, during this event focused on innovation and the progress of humanity." # FranceDubai2020 @ atout_francehttps: //t.co/86cjMz6e7Q

- France Dubai 2020 (@ francedubai2020) December 11, 2020

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