"Expo 2020 Dubai is gearing up to help shape a post-pandemic world and create a better future for all," the bureau said in a statement. The delay "also allows the World Expo to focus on a collective desire for new thinking to identify solutions to some of the greatest challenges of our time." Dubai, the glitzy city-state which is part of the United Arab Emirates and is known for hosting hundreds of conferences annually, has already scrapped a string of cultural and entertainment events amid the pandemic that has claimed more than 246,000 lives around the world to date.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2020