UAE BARQ برق الإمارات – نبضك
Swedish Minister for Foreign Trade, Anna Hallberg, performed a tree planting ceremony at Expo 2020 Dubai on Wednesday, officially marking the beginning of the construction of the Swedish pavilion, ‘The Forest’.
Najeeb Mohammed Al-Ali, Executive Director of Expo 2020 Dubai Bureau, joined the Swedish minister at today’s ceremony. Tree planting resonates with the ambition to build the pavilion entirely in wood to minimise its impact on the climate. “Building the pavilion itself in a renewable material is completely in line with both Swedish priorities and the strong climate focus on the world exhibition,” said Hallberg.
Themed ‘Co-creation for Innovation’, the Swedish pavilion highlights a strong focus on sustainability.
The Swedish Expo organisation produced a film in which Sweden’s sustainable and large-scale forest cultivation was highlighted. Whilst viewing the film, the 100 hundred guests invited to the tree planting ceremony were able to travel to the vast plains of the region Dalarna where the trees for the Swedish pavilion were picked up last spring. For each tree harvested for the pavilion, three new ones will be planted. The Swedish pavilion will be located in Expo 2020’s sustainability district.
Hallberg explained, “Our pavilion will showcase the best that Sweden has to offer within research and innovation. Building the pavilion itself in a renewable material is completely in line with both Swedish priorities and the strong climate focus of the world exhibition.”
During the Ground Planting ceremony, Minister Hallberg addressed Sweden’s strong focus on combining innovative solutions with sustainable practices as being the main reason for building the Swedish pavilion in the sustainability district of the Expo 2020 site. She also underscored the importance of global co-creation – an essential part of Sweden’s theme – Co-creation for Innovation.
Henrik Landerholm, Ambassador of Sweden to the UAE, said, “I am very proud to witness the ground-breaking for the construction of Sweden’s pavilion at the Expo 2020 in Dubai – in just one year the eyes of the world will be focused on the UAE and this will be an opportunity for the country to showcase state-of-the-art technology and innovative and sustainable solutions.”
“The image of Sweden is very positive in UAE, generally associated with nature and beautiful landscapes as well as the strong recycling culture. We want to show that Sweden is also an innovative and prominent hi-tech country with world-leading companies and that there are major business and collaboration opportunities,” he added.
