On December 6, 2018, the second meeting of the Coordinating Committee on the preparation of Ukraine's participation in the World Expo 2020 Dubai was chaired by Stepan Kubiv, First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine/ Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine.

As was reported, in February 2017 the Government approved a decision on Ukraine's participation in the World Expo 2020 and the construction of its own national pavilion. The organizing committee of the exhibition provided for Ukraine a site with an area of 1,652.46 sq.m for the construction of a pavilion with an area of approximately 1,035.03 sq.m.

"The Exhibition Expo 2020 is an event of the scale of the Olympic Games for the countries. During the Expo, as a rule, the participants show off the development of innovations, high technologies, investment proposals and projects. Creativity and up-to-dateness are the main trends that the exhibition organizers strive to demonstrate, and Ukraine can become one of the favorites of the Expo. The concept of the national pavilion of Ukraine should clearly show that Ukraine and its products are modern and high-tech. I ask everyone to remember this during the preparatory work", Stepan Kubiv emphasized.

Among the proposed concepts of the presentation of Ukraine, the Coordinating Committee chose the concept "Smart Ukraine: Connecting dots", which in the opinion of the Coordination Committee is the most naturally linked to the general concept of the Expo 2020 "Combining Minds, Creating the Future: Opportunity, Mobility, Sustainability".

"Ukraine has a unique human capital with innovative and creative thinking that is able to combine technological solutions with the traditional production of goods and services. This is not only systemic IT solutions, but also solutions for energy, agrarian industry, small and medium-sized businesses of different directions. It is necessary to present all of this in a single pavilion, so that visitors can appreciate the true quality and innovation", Stepan Kubiv emphasized in the course of the discussion on the concept of the national pavilion.

Further preparatory work for participation of Ukraine in the Expo 2020 will include the approval of the schedule and the implementation of pre-design, project work and coordination of the results with the Expo-2020 Organizing Committee. This includes holding three stages of open tenders for the construction of a national pavilion, work on internal arrangement, provision of the exhibition in 2020, maintenance, exploitation, and later - dismantling of the pavilion.

In order to fulfill the functions of the Directorate for the preparation of Ukraine's participation in the World Expo 2020, the Ministry of Economic Development plans to set up a state enterprise Expo 2020.