The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) has set the dates for the Enquiry Missions to the four countries seeking to organise World Expo 2030.

The Enquiry Missions – composed of one of the Vice Presidents of the BIE, delegates of BIE Member States and the BIE Secretary General – are planned in March and April 2023, for the Republic of Korea, Italy, Ukraine and Saudi, as part of the project examination phase for World Expo 2030.

The dates set for the Enquiry Missions are as follows:

Saudi Arabia (Riyadh) 6-10 March

Ukraine (Odesa) 20-24 March

Republic of Korea (Busan) 3-7 April

Italy (Rome) 17-21 April

The task of the Enquiry Missions is to assess the feasibility and viability of each Expo project as laid out in the candidature dossiers previously submitted to the BIE. This assessment, which is a necessary step for the candidature to be considered for election, includes detailed presentations of the candidature project and exchanges with officials and key stakeholders involved in the candidature.

Using the candidature dossier as a guide, each Enquiry Mission will look into the motivations behind the Expo candidature, the attractiveness of the proposed Expo theme, the proposed site and its planned re-use after the Expo, levels of local and national support for the project, expected participation, and the financial feasibility plan.

The findings of the Enquiry Missions will be discussed by the BIE’s Executive Committee in May 2023, which will decide to retain the candidatures it considers to be feasible and viable. In November 2023, during the 173rd General Assembly of the BIE, the host country of World Expo 2030 will be elected by BIE Member States, via secret ballot, on the principle of one country, one vote.

World Expos, officially known as International Registered Exhibitions, are global gatherings of nations addressing universal challenges of our time. These unparalleled global events offer a journey inside a chosen theme through engaging and immersive activities. Taking place every five years and lasting up to six months, World Expos welcome tens of millions of visitors, allow countries to build extraordinary pavilions, and transform the host city for years to come.

The most recent World Expo, Expo 2020 Dubai took place under the theme “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”, and received over 24 million visits between 1 October 2021 and 31 March 2022. The next World Expo will take place in Osaka, Kansai, Japan in 2025, under the theme Designing Future Society for Our Lives.