Expo 2020 vote: UAE deserves answers from Pakistan and Afghanistan

As the race dust settles and the celebrations subside, following the Expo 2020 victory, it is imperative to take stock of such a thrilling competition. The UAE beat such magnificent opponents like Russia, Brazil and Turkey. At a different time, each of their candidate cities could most probably have won hands-down. But, according to many of the delegates who were present at the Bureau International des Expositions on November 27, our own Dubai represented everything that the Expo stands for — cosmopolitan, open-minded, sophisticated and innovative.

Four cities battled it out to determine who will host a world's fair in 2020: Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Ekaterinburg, Russia; Izmir, Turkey, and Sao Paulo, Brail. The city of Ayutthaya, Thailand was forced to bow out on 11 June 2013. Dubai was selected on 26 November 2013.

Expo 2020 is the larger of the two kinds of world's fairs, analogous to the Summer Olympics. It is considered "sanctioned" by the BIE. There are no size limitations for sanctioned world's fairs and many nations build their own stand-alone pavilions. They're held every five years. Hannover, Germany hosted Expo 2000; Aichi Prefecture, Japan hosted Expo 2005; Shanghai, China is hosting Expo 2010; and Milan, Italy is preparing to host Expo 2015. Themes for these pavilions are fairly broad and typically have several smaller sub-themes. Expo 2025 will also be of this size.