France submitted today a letter of candidature to the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) to organise World Expo 2025 in Greater Paris. This is the first bid to host the Expo, which will be the next World Expo to be held afterExpo 2020 in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, organised under the theme ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’.

World Expos, known officially as International Registered Exhibitions, are organised every five years. They can last up to six months, and international participants can build their own pavilions on the Expo site. The themes of World Expos are designed to raise awareness of and find responses to universal challenges of our time. The most recent World Expo was held in the city of Milan, Italy, in 2015, and gathered over 21 million visitors under the theme ‘Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life’.

France’s candidature for Greater Paris is based on the theme of “La connaissance à partager, La Planète à protéger", and the Expo would be open from 1 May to 30 October 2025, should the bid obtain the vote of the majority of BIE Member States.

Following this first application by France, all other countries wishing to organise World Expo 2025 now have six months to submit their own bids, with the final deadline being 22 May 2017 at 6pm (Paris time). Once the list is closed, the project examination phase of the bidding process will be launched, including the submission of bid dossiers, BIE Enquiry Missions, forums and a vote by the 169 Member States to decide on the host country when the General Assembly of the BIE meets in November 2018.

Acknowledging the receipt of the letter of candidature, BIE Secretary General Vicente G. Loscertales stated that “France’s candidature marks the starting point of the six-month countdown until the candidate list for World Expo 2025 closes.” Mr. Loscertales added that “the BIE is looking forward to hearing more about France’s vision for Expo 2025.”

France was a founding member of the BIE when it was created in 1928. Paris hosted the 1937 World Expo, as well as five historical World Expos between 1855 and 1900. France has also organised three Specialised Expos – Paris 1947, Lyon 1949, Lille 1951 – and a Horticultural Expo in Paris in 1969.

The Paris region has a population of over 12 million, with the French capital being one of the most visited cities in the world. Paris is on the shortlist to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, which would mark 100 years since the city last hosted the Games.