Serbia submitted a letter of candidature to the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) to organise a Specialised Expo in Belgrade in 2027.
The letter, from Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, was handed to the Secretary-General of the BIE, Dimitri S. Kerkentzes, by the Ambassador of Serbia to France and Monaco, H.E. Natasa Maric.
Serbia’s candidature is based on the theme “Play for Humanity – Sport and Music for All”, and if successful, the Expo will take place in Belgrade between 15 May and 15 August 2027. The six-month candidature phase for Specialised Expo 2027/28 was launched on 29 July 2021 when the United States notified the BIE of its candidature for Minnesota. This was followed by Thailand’s candidature for Phuket on 11 January 2022. The BIE will close the candidate list on 28 January 2022 at 5 pm CET.
Once the list is closed, the project examination phase of the candidature process will be launched, during which each candidate will submit a detailed candidature dossier. The BIE will then organise Enquiry Missions and assess the feasibility and viability of each candidature project. The host country of Specialised Expo 2027/28 will then be elected by the BIE Member States gathered in a General Assembly, on the principle of one country, one vote.
List of candidates for Specialised Expo 2027/28
Five countries have submitted competing candidatures to organise a Specialised Expo in either 2027 or 2028: the United States of America (in Minnesota), Thailand (in Phuket), Serbia (in Belgrade), Spain (in Malaga), and Argentina (in San Carlos de Bariloche).
The Secretary-General of the BIE, Dimitri S. Kerkentzes, stated: “The BIE welcomes these five candidatures to organise Specialised Expo 2027/28. The strong interest in organising Specialised Expos and the nature of the proposed themes attest to a strong appetite for global cooperation to address these shared challenges. We look forward to learning more about each project as the candidature process moves into the next stage.”
Expos are global events that explore a chosen theme through engaging and immersive discoveries. Among the different categories of Expos, Specialised Expos are designed to respond to a precise challenge facing humanity and may take place in the interval between two World Expos. Specialised Expos are limited in terms of duration – lasting up to three months – and space – with the exhibition area not exceeding 25 hectares. The site is entirely built by the Organiser, Participants being provided with pavilion space. The most recent Specialised Expo, Expo 2017 Astana, took place in the capital of Kazakhstan, Nur-Sultan, under the theme “Future Energy”, and welcomed almost 4 million visitors.
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