Expo 2020 Dubai is a “massive” opportunity for UK businesses to showcase innovation at a time when the country increasingly looks outside the European Union to do business, according to Simon Penney, Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner (HMTC) for the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Speaking to Arabian Business in an exclusive interview, Penney said that the event is “really big for the UK in terms of raising our (the UAE’s) profile back in the UK.
Among the most important factors, he added, will be the UK’s Stephen Hawking-inspired, high-tech pavilion.
“It very much showcases one of the key themes, which is artificial intelligence. The whole theme of our pavilion will be tech and AI, and that’s really important because that resonates with the UAE,” he said.
Additionally, Penney said that many British firms will benefit from the exposure they receive from being a part of the larger effort to prepare the Expo 2020 site.
“Expo is really big for the UK firms involved in the design of it, the construction of it and the infrastructure of it,” he said.
“UK firms are involved in just about every single aspect of it in terms of providing services or goods.”
Simon Penney.
Penney added that the Expo – which will run between October 2020 and April 2021 – will come at an “important time” for the UK, roughly coinciding with the time period in which the country will officially leave the European Union.
“[It will be] bang in the middle of that time that the UK leaves,” he said. “It’s a fantastic opportunity to showcase itself on the international stage at a point in time in which we have left the EU.”
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