Waldemar Buda made the declaration at a media in Warsaw briefing on Wednesday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The host city for Expo 2030 will be chosen in the middle of next year from among five candidates: Italy’s Rome, South Korea’s Busan, Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh, Russia’s Moscow, and Ukraine’s Odesa, according to officials.
Buda said that after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the intergovernmental International Bureau of Expositions suspended both Moscow’s and Odesa’s bids.
“We don’t understand it,” he said. “We would like to see Russia and Moscow not only suspended, but banned from the race to host Expo 2030, and for Ukraine’s Odesa bid to continue."
He added: “Russia as the aggressor cannot feel that it is beyond punishment. It must be deprived of all rights to organise various events.”
'We are ready to strongly support Odesa'
Buda said: “We are ready to strongly support Odesa in organising Expo 2030."
He added that his ministry was in contact with Odesa authorities who “maintain their bid and expect it to be considered.”
He told reporters that Poland would urge the 170 countries that are expected to participate in the vote “to support Ukraine unequivocally and to ban Russia and Moscow.”
Buda also said that a World Expo in Ukraine would help promote the country and be part of its postwar reconstruction.
The World Expo is held every five years, lasting up to six months. Dubai in the United Arab Emirates hosted Expo 2020, while Japan’s Osaka will stage the next event in 2025.
Wednesday was day 70 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP