Putin pledges state support to Yekaterinburg in case of its winning EXPO-2020 bid

Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged state and financial support to the Russian city of Yekaterinburg in case of its winning an EXPO-2020 bid.

Speaking at a meeting with senior International Exhibitions Bureau (BIE) officials on Thursday, Putin said that if ‘the BIE takes a relevant decision, we guarantee that we will render additional assistance to the city in developing its infrastructure.’

He added that the money will be first of all allocated for the development of roads and an airport, and that businessmen may contribute to the project by possibly financing the construction of more hotels in Yekaterinburg.

‘We set up a special organizing committee headed by Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich and if a decision is taken in favor of Yekaterinburg, the Russian government will organize work in accordance with your demands,’ Putin said.

According to Putin, Russia has been taking part in EXPO exhibitions since their foundation in 1851. He recalled that Russia has more than once received a variety of EXPO awards, but that Russia has never hosted an EXPO exhibition.

‘This time, we propose to hold EXPO-2020 in one of our traditional industrial centers in the Urals that is located practically in the center of Russia and may represent both the European and the Euro-Asian part of the country,’ Putin said. According to him, guests from Europe, Asia and elsewhere will feel comfortable in Yekaterinburg.

For his part, Stine Christensen, head of the BIE’s Executive Committee, touched on a visit by a BIE delegation to Russia. ‘Our task is to assess Yekaterinburg’s bid for EXPO-2020,’ he said, adding that the BIE will first and foremost deal with the city’s compliance with the bid and ‘incessant political and financial support.’ Christensen said that during the visit to Russia, ‘we see confirmation of written guarantees that we earlier submitted to the Secretariat', Interfax reports.