Photo credit: Expo2020 Dubai UAE: Papua New Guinea pavilion
The 6-month world Expo2020 in Dubai has ended on the 31st of March with great success giving different participating countries including the Papua New Guinea expo team great learning experiences and key take away tasks to implement to further develop the country’s economy.
The Papua New Guinea pavilion officially closed its doors on March 31st but remained open on April 1st to give opportunity to pavilion staff from other countries, expo volunteers and workers to come and visit given the lack of opportunity they had to visit other country pavilions during the course of the expo.
The closing now leads to the next phase of expo which is the decommissioning of the pavilion. The PNG expo team has been busy over the last few days dismantling and packing display banners in the pavilion. The items will be packed in a container which will then be shipped back to Papua New Guinea.
The first lot of pavilion staff left Dubai on the 10th of April while a skeleton team remained to organize a post expo networking dialogue with partners and interested investors in UAE.
The full expo team is expected to be in Port Moresby at the end of the month to prepare for an interagency post expo workshop where stakeholders will be called in for a briefing on PNG’s participation outcomes in Expo2020.
During the official closing dinner of the pavilion, PNG Expo Commissioner General and Ambassador to Belgium and the EU, His Excellency Joshua Kalinoe commended the staff saying that they had lived up to the expectation of their people and country as they worked very long hours, 24-seven, not only in pavilion duties but also planning and executing trade and investment events during the expo led thematic weeks.
“Papua New Guinea was one of the countries that actively participated in expo led programmes within the context of the pavilion’s strategic participation framework that was approved for implementation by the Marape Cabinet,“ Ambassador Kalinoe said.
The PNG pavilion delivered a number of forums and events as part of its participation strategy and maximized PNG’s visibility during the expo. The key events included;
- 5 investment forums promoting PNG economic industries and sectors such as agriculture and downstream processing, banking and finance, tourism and connectivity, fisheries and ICT.
- 2 roundtable discussions focusing on education, research and science and innovations and how they can add value to PNG’s mass biodiversity and contribute to PNG’s economy.
- Line up of one week cultural performances and PNG reggae musician Anslom Nakikus as lead up to the Papua New Guinea national day which was celebrated on February 28.
- A trial exercise on bringing PNG seafood and fresh produce into UAE to understand the market requirements, ease of access and costs.
- Government to business seminar focusing on the ICT sector.
PNG also participated in the thematic events organized by expo.
The PNG pavilion together with other smaller pavilions will be demolished and the expo site will be converted to District 2020, a suburb of Dubai city.
