Posted:
16.03.2022 17:14:00
Made in Belarus
Consul General of Belarus in Dubai on the first results of our country’s participation in the World Expo 2020
The world’s largest exhibition Expo 2020 continues in Dubai. 192 countries present their achievements at the large-scale international forum. Belarus is among them. The National Day, which took place at the end of November, was the key event for our country. At the same time, the Belarus Investment Forum took place. Both events aroused great interest among foreign visitors and investors. The results were immediate and measurable. Contacts gradually develop into profitable contracts. In particular, Belarusian Steel Works signed several contracts for the supply of products worth more than $100 million during the exhibition within the framework of the Days of the Gomel Region. Evgeny Lazarev, Consul General of Belarus in Dubai, summed up the first results of our country’s participation in this most prestigious world forum in an interview with MT.
Decent result
— How many people have visited the Belarusian pavilion to date, what attracts them?— To date, the Belarusian pavilion at the Expo has already been visited by about 700,000 people. This is a fairly large number. However, we can see from the dynamics that the wave of interest in the exhibition is not weakening yet. We expect that we will be able to get close to a million visitors because of its results. It should be noted that this is one of the most effective participation of Belarus in the World Expo exhibitions.
Our pavilion is among the most visited at the exhibition. When communicating with our guests, it turns out that they are primarily attracted by the quite diverse exposition. It is suitable for both business professionals and ordinary people of all ages. Everyone notes: the Belarusian pavilion is not boring. There is all the necessary information about the country for both investors and tourists who want to visit Belarus. Right in the pavilion you can watch a film about our country, get to know Belarusian art better.
Tree of Knowledge symbolises the relationship of different generations in terms of outlook on lifeFeature of the pavilion, which was noticed by almost all visitors, is that it contains a lot of physical exhibits. It is extremely rare to find the same place at the Expo. Many countries favour multimedia content. We think that it is also important for people to have the opportunity not only to see the exhibit, but also to touch it. One of these in the pavilion is the Tree of Knowledge. This is a product of creativity of the Belarusian artist, which she made from a thread. It took two years to build it. The craftswoman created it with her mother, so the Tree of Knowledge symbolises the relationship of different generations in terms of outlook on life. Furthermore, it symbolises the future. At the foot, there are prototypes of future trains and cars, produced by Belarusian engineers and designers. This ‘tree’ was included in the top 20 most interesting and attractive exhibits of the exhibition.
Particularly pleasing is that after five months, there is a great interest in thousands of Belarusian products, which are sold in our store. It means there is a great demand. So far, $100,000 worth of goods have been sold. This is a good result in terms of boosting our enterprises, which have the opportunity and are interested in entering the UAE market. Foremost, I am sure that many Belarusian goods will appear on the shelves of their stores after the Expo.
Warm investment environment
— In general, if we talk about the investment component of the exhibition, how successful is this event for our country from this point of view?— Our pavilion presents the main areas for investment, as well as start-ups. Investors are quite actively interested, for example, in such projects as a bioprinter and medical products. The key element of our exposition is the layout of the Northern Waterfront project, which is being implemented in Belarus by the largest developer in the UAE, Mohamed Alabbar. He is the founder of the EMAAR — the largest real estate development company in the UAE. This project is estimated at about $5 billion, and this is a signal that flagship projects with Arab investments are being implemented in Belarus.
During the exhibition, Belarusian Steel Works signed several contracts for the supply of products worth more than $100 million within the framework of the Days of the Gomel Region
Naturally, the Belarus Investment Forum held in November paid off. Now the National Agency of Investments and Privatisation is working out various projects with investors. I also know that, in addition to the participants of the investment forum, new businessmen have joined the implementation of projects in Belarus. We are convinced that all this will significantly strengthen trade and economic relations between the two countries.
— And what do you personally remember most of all among the events that took place as part of the Expo business programme?
— I want to say that the business programme is so diverse that it is quite difficult to single out anything separately. Nevertheless, it was very interesting for me to watch the presentations of our regions. I want to emphasise that they were quite strong. Exhibitors understand that they have a good opportunity to enter the rich and huge UAE market. Each region presented its zests and strengths: food products, heavy engineering or even petrochemical products. Therefore, it seems to us that the programme of participation of Belarusian regions and enterprises, concerns and ministries was drawn up correctly and made it possible to cover the entire spectrum of our exporters in a completely substantive way. The most important task facing our participants is being fulfilled. Each enterprise leaves either with a specific contract or makes contacts with potential importers. In this regard, we have provided a flexible and diverse platform for our exporters.
Important shift
Expo 2020 Dubai is a tremendous exhibition, which, in addition, is of great interest all over the world— Indeed, everything is going very well, and this exhibition is held for the first time in this region. Usually, these forums were always held in Western countries. As noted by many experts, the exhibition in Dubai is able to cover not only the UAE itself, but also other countries of the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. Today we see that people from many Arab countries come to the Expo. It is very important for us that in this way we can reach out to such major partners as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar. While most countries are closed due to coronavirus restrictions, this region has every opportunity to freely organise the presentation of its products and investment opportunities. Moreover, most importantly, to start mutually beneficial co-operation.
FACT
Expo 2020 Dubai will have visitors until March 31st, 2022.
The Belarusian pavilion is located in the ‘Opportunity District’ themed area.
By Vladislav Sychevich
