Expo 2020 is a World Expo, currently hosted by Dubai in the United Arab Emirates from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022. Originally scheduled for 20 October 2020 to 10 April 2021, it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On February 1 2022, Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden participated digitally in a seminar at the exhibition. The theme of the seminar was mental illness among children and young people.
On 1-2 February, Swedish authorities, companies and experts gathered at the Swedish life science program during the health week at Expo 2020. As part of the program, the organization Mentor together with the Choice Foundation arranged a seminar on mental illness among children and young people. The Queen, who founded Mentor in 1994, opened the seminar with a speech.
Her Majesty the Queen of Sweden said: “During this Mental Health Week, we will share the importance of early intervention to support children and young people to better health and a good start in life. Preventive and health-promoting interventions will benefit young people today – and the whole society in the future”.
Queen Silvia continued: “Mental illness among children and young people is a global problem, relevant to all of us. As founder of Mentor International, I consider it an honour to raise this issue together with the Choice Foundation here in the Swedish Pavilion at Expo 2020. More than 25 years ago, I founded Mentor International together with members of the World Health Organization. Our mission was to empower young people while preventing risky behaviours”.
In December 2021 King Carl XVI Gustaf travelled to Dubai to take a tour of the Swedish pavilion at the 2020 Expo. King Carl Gustaf arrived in the United Arab Emirates accompanied by a delegation composed of the Minister of Foreign Trade and a trade delegation of Swedish entrepreneurs. Queen Silvia should actually have been there too, but got cold symptoms and had to stay at home in Sweden.
Expo can trace its roots back to London in 1851. Now, every five years, a city around the world hosts the global exhibition that allows participating countries to showcase their excellences in specific sectors. The last Expo before Dubai was Milan 2015; Dubai was supposed to take place in 2020 but got postponed because of health safety concerns. The next Expo will be in 2025 in Osaka, Japan.
