Expo 2020 Dubai: Pitch for a global Britain

Expo 2020 Dubai provides the first major opportunity for showcasing Britain’s international ambitions after leaving the EU

Slogans are a powerful way to convey core messages in this age of sharp political communication. There is a long history of slogans in the cut-and-thrust of British politics — remember the Conservative party’s iconic pitch: ‘Labour Isn’t Working’, when the Margaret Thatcher-led party ousted Labour in 1979, or Labour’s ‘New Labour, New Life for Britain’, when Tony Blair led the party to a landslide win in 1997? The contending views of Brexit featured prominently in slogans in the charged campaign before the 2016 referendum on membership of the European Union, and before the 2017 and 2019 general elections (‘Take Back Control’, ‘Labour In For Britain’, ‘Get Brexit Done’).

Every such slogan attracts critics and supporters. One such slogan often repeated in parliament and official circles since the 2016 referendum is the ambition of a ‘Global Britain’, even though its contours have remained vague and its context reflected a contradiction: pursuing a global role, while Brexit implied a degree of insularity. The slogan has since been panned by several MPs, parliamentary committees and others, most recently in a House of Commons debate on developments in Afghanistan and Britain’s discomfiture about its role there. In 2018, the Foreign Affairs Committee undertook an inquiry to learn more about its meaning, before concluding: “The most frequent complaint we have heard from several witnesses is that the only thing that is clear about Global Britain is that it is unclear what it means, what it stands for or how its success should be measured.” In July this year, the slogan was the highlight of a major review of foreign policy, security, defence and development, titled Global Britain in a Competitive Age.

Covid-19 proved a dampener to post-Brexit plans on international trade and others areas (Prime Minister Boris Johnson twice cancelled his visit to India for trade talks), but largely away from the headlines in the British press, a large number of departments, companies and leading professionals have been busy to represent the best of Global Britain during the Expo 2020 Dubai.

Says Rahul Roy-Chaudhury of the International Institute for Strategic Studies: “The mega Dubai Expo provides the first significant opportunity to showcase the trading face of post-Brexit Britain; it will also be critical in defining the actual substance of Global Britain. The slogan rhetorically describes Britain’s ambitious independent foreign and trade policy. Its first post-Brexit official policy review this year established a new ‘tilt’ towards the Indo-Pacific region, stretching from the Arabian Gulf and eastern Africa in the western Indian Ocean to the western Pacific Ocean. Britain seeks to deepen its multiple layers of engagement in the Indo-Pacific. In April 2018, it opened its naval support facility in Bahrain, its first permanent base in the western Indian Ocean since its armed forces withdrew from East of Suez in the 1970s. Britain now has seven ‘permanent points of presence’ in this region comprising Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Kenya, Diego Garcia, Singapore and Brunei. But there are critical challenges. The Covid-19 pandemic severely affected the British economy, lives and jobs since March 2020; economic recovery remains its top domestic priority. It is this context that makes the Dubai Expo crucial to the ideas and ambition of Global Britain.”

The right platform

The British government supported the UAE’s bid in 2013 when the Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) — the intergovernmental organisation in charge of overseeing and regulating World Expos since 1931 — was in the process of deciding the venue of the 2020 Expo. The field of contenders was extremely strong, comprising Brazil, Russia, Thailand, Turkey and the UAE. But, as the then foreign secretary William Hague said at the time, “We assess that the Dubai bid is exceptionally strong: focused on global connectivity and accessibility, underpinned by its geographical location and its position as a global logistics and transport hub. All these would allow exhibitors to reach a large and varied international audience... holding Expo 2020 at a time of great change in the region would send a positive signal to the world that this is a region of dynamism, innovation and vast human potential.”

Expo 2020 Dubai will be the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region and the largest event ever held in the Arab world, from October 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022, bringing over 190 countries together in a spirit of shared purpose.

Britain has been a pioneer of organising spectacular Expos, winning several awards in design, landscape and architecture in such mega events over the decades, a fact often mentioned in advance of the Dubai event. The first World Expo was held in Hyde Park, London, in a specially constructed glass and iron structure called The Crystal Palace over 19 acres between May and October 1851, called ‘The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations’. Held to showcase the achievements of the Industrial Revolution, a celebration of Britain’s manufacturing prowess, it included over 100,000 objects and a large section on colonial India, put up by the East India Company. It attracted over 6 million visitors, including Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens, George Eliot and Lewis Carroll, and generated enough income to create several institutions that continue to be major centres of activity, such as the Royal College of Art (RCA), Victoria & Albert Museum, Imperial College London and the Natural History Museum.

The RCA, which is the Heritage Partner of the UK Pavilion at the Expo 2020 Dubai, thus has a 170-year history of shared heritage with world exhibitions, going back to the 1851 Expo, which was conceived by Prince Albert and Henry Cole (who guided the early days of the institution that would become the RCA).

Paul Thompson, RCA vice-chancellor, says: “Throughout its 185 years, the Royal College of Art has always defined the future through creativity and innovation — from the 1960s’ standard-issue design for hospital beds by RCA graduate and pioneer Kenneth Agnew to environmental solutions today such as graduate company Olombria, who are using technology to improve pollination efficiency. I look forward to RCA staff and students demonstrating the incredible history and power of UK art and design, as Heritage Partner for the UK Government’s contribution to this important global showcase.” Adds Michael Lehnert, RCA’s head of Partnerships: “More and more students join the RCA from the UAE and other GCC countries, from India, Pakistan and the South Asia region. RCA experts work with Dubai-based companies on advisory and executive education focused on innovation, creative toolkits, and developing start-ups and entrepreneurialism. The RCA’s heritage is that our academics and students have always defined the future of their times.”

Innovations for the future

(Prasun is a journalist based in London. He tweets @PrasunSonwalkar.)