DUBAI: Since it was first revealed in October last year, the Pakistan Pavilion has caused quite a stir at the Expo 2020 Dubai. Rashid Rana’s extraordinary façade design has met with shock and awe, considered a game changer, and has played a pivotal role in attracting visitors inside.
Throughout the six months, visitors have been flocking to the pavilion which has till date received a footfall of over 1.2 million people. “The capacity of the pavilion in terms of space is 1.3 million over six months,” Afroz Abro, head of events and marketing at the Pakistan Pavilion, told Business Recorder. “So even if we wanted to have more people come in, this is as much, given the space allocated to us, as it can hold. So in that regard I think we’ve hit the mark of having the maximum number of visitors, which is a great success.”
The excitement has also attracted celebrities, dignitaries, UAE and other GCC royals and ministers and even the ruler of Dubai himself, Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al-Makhtoum, who have been keen to see for themselves what the hype is all about.
Expo 2020 Dubai: Pakistan Pavilion clocks in 1 million visitors in 5 months
Suffice to say that the ingenuity of the exhibits profoundly matches the pull of the exterior. Popularly known as one of the most ‘Instagrammable’ pavilions at the global event, it has been pitted as one of the top five out of some 192 country pavilions.
Explaining the rationale behind the exhibits, Abro says, “It was very important for us, participating in a world expo at this scale for the first time, to educate the world about our past before stepping into the future. Hence, our inner journey primarily narrates our history and culture. Most other pavilions have focused on their future, and rightfully so because they’ve already have created an image of themselves in the international world. We unfortunately did not have that privilege.
“Having said that, we’ve crossed the milestone of telling the world who we were, where we originated from, who we are right now and in the future world expos we can finally show them what the future looks like for Pakistan,” she continues.
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Initially, she says, the team had reservations over how people would react to these historical curatorial exhibits in an Expo focusing on the future and new age technologies. But she is thrilled that the visitors have given a positive response.
“If we had only shown them what Pakistan is today, I don’t think they would have left with the same kind of image and feedback as they leave with now. It’s been a subtle way of sending a positive message across and it has worked. We had to ice break this negative perception first and having done that we have learnt that there is so much room for working on what we have planned and turning it into reality.”
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Talking about the commercial achievement, Rizwan Tariq, Secretary Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, and also the pavilion director, says that the objectives given by Prime Minister Imran Khan were two; to promote tourism and to promote investment.
“The first half of the inner journey of the pavilion focuses on promoting historical and religious tourism,” Tariq said. “The journey continues ‘across the bridge’ into the other part of the building showcasing Pakistan as the land of opportunities.”
Tourism promotion, Tariq says, has definitely been achieved. Even the Pakistani diaspora, who hasn’t seen almost 90% of what is being shown, leaves with a longing of wanting to visit these exotic places and can be considered the ‘early harvest’.
Investment in tourism as well as other sectors has also achieved a pleasing mark, according to Tariq.
In collaboration with the federal and provincial boards of investments, over 300 programming and business events have been organised to attract high net-worth individuals. One month each was dedicated to showcasing the potential of each of the five provinces and Azad Kashmir.
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“We can proudly say that they all went back happy and have given us big numbers from the MoUs they have signed. Gilgit Baltistan claims signing MoUs worth $2 billion while KPK has projected a figure of $8 billion in tourism and other sectors of the economy. KPK came really prepared as the PM has personally been looking into developing integrated tourism zones there. There were strict instructions to all provinces from the PM and his office directly monitored what was happening here.”
Abro and Tariq both agree that they received overwhelming support from the country leadership with almost all federal ministers paying a visit. Provincial ministers also came for investment conferences and supported their teams.
“Everyone owned the project. This is the first time we’ve seen such a concerted effort, which is a great example of public-private partnership. The way the government and the private sector have collaborated to make this vision a reality has never happened in our history,” Abro says. “All of the sixty five private sponsors are very happy that their money was spent well and the government is delighted that the right narrative has come out.”
It is an incorrect notion that the government had no financial involvement in the pavilion. While the government said it could not justify spending $30 million of taxpayer money on the pavilion, the Ministry of Commerce solicited some of the country’s largest business houses to contribute towards the inner curatorial journey and the board of trustees ensured that there was no compromise on quality. The sponsors allowed TDAP to select the best talent in the country.
From the day the first sketches were made, the government worked hand in hand with the foreign and commerce ministries to ensure that this is done well and the programming, marketing and operations were all paid for by the government.
Going forward, the future of the pavilion beyond March 31 is as yet undecided. There are a couple of options on the table that the government is considering. There are negotiations going on with the UAE government about whether the building should be retained. A cost-benefit analysis is being done in Islamabad. The Ministry of IT has put forward a proposal for turning it into an incubation centre like the ones being set up within Pakistan, but as yet no decision has been made.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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