Skopje, 4 September 2023 (MIA) – My dream is that in 2030 we will be able to celebrate EXPO in Rome and North Macedonia as an EU country, so let’s work together for each of these goals, said the Mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri on Monday, at an event in Skopje organized by the Italian Embassy and the EU Delegation, at which Rome’s EXPO 2030 candidacy was presented.

Gualtieri assessed his visit to Skopje as excellent, noting that he had several visits with officials during which they spoke about Rome’s EXPO 2030 project, but also about making concrete steps over the cooperation between Rome and Skopje, but also between Italy and North Macedonia.

“We signed a Memorandum of understanding, a cooperation agreement between Rome and Skopje in a number of areas – cultural cooperation, business cooperation, administrative cooperation, because we are facing today the same challenges and we have a lot to say to each other and I think there is also a great potential in terms of tourist exchange and economic cooperation between Italy and North Macedonia,” said the Mayor of Rome.

The Mayor stressed they are planning to organize an EXPO that would be different from previous ones, which would be fully sustainable and which would provide equal visibility to all countries, both small and big.

“We would like to build an EXPO which also looks to the future, an EXPO which will remain. We will support the building of pavilions by various countries, including North Macedonia, to keep the presence in the EXPO also for the future,” added Gualtieri.

Gualtieri stressed that the EXPO will focus on the topic "People and Territories", i.e., how that relationship has changed over time.

“We are addressing enormous challenges – climate change, energy transition, innovation, digital revolution, artificial intelligence and the need for a stronger social cohesion, and all these things happen concretely in the cities. So, cities have to reinvent themselves and become laboratories for these new ideas. So, our EXPO will be at the same time about this topic, but also will be an example of how to do this topic, it will be a zero carbon EXPO, fully sustainable, with all the energy coming from solar panels, it will be an EXPO which will be a lot integrated with nature, with urban reforestation,” said Gualtieri.

Gualtieri added that the EXPO will promote the common European values – civil rights, gender equality, freedom of expression, equal respect for any religious faith, respect for all minorities, respect for workers’ rights.

EXPO is a global fair visited by more than a million of visitors. The theme of the Rome Expo is “People and Territories. Regeneration, Inclusion and Innovation”.

In November 2023, at the 173rd General Assembly of the BIE, the member-states will elect the host country of World Expo 2030 by secret ballot, with each country getting one vote.

The other candidates to host the Expo apart from Rome, are Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh and South Korea’s Busan.

Photo: MIA