After six months of dazzling visitors with stunning horticultural displays, Expo 2019 Beijing, the AIPH approved A1 World Horticultural Expo, presented one final spectacular show at its official closing ceremony on Wednesday 9th October 2019. The world’s largest-ever horticultural Expo park, a site which spans more than 500 hectares amidst the mountains of Beijing’s Yanqing District, welcomed 9.34 million visitors, 110 international participants and hosted over 3,000 events, since its official opening on 28th April 2019. The Expo sought to share centuries of Chinese horticultural wisdom and spread horticultural knowledge around the world.
The closing ceremony took place in the Expo’s Guirui Theatre at which the Chinese Premier, Mr Li Keqiang reiterated China’s commitment to encouraging green development and stressed the need to create greener and better lives for people. In his speech, Mr Bernard Oosterom, President of the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH), the organisation responsible for approving, regulating and monitoring World Horticultural Expos said: “The level of international attention and participation of this Expo is unparalleled and has exceeded all expectations”.
Marking it as a historic success, the horticultural expo stimulated unprecedented international interest. At the Expo’s official opening ceremony, the Chinese President, Mr Xi Jinping disseminated aspirations of green and ecological development to audiences around the world and strongly affirmed the role of horticulture in facing urgent environmental issues.
The Expo’s theme ‘Live Green Live Better’ embodied the importance of horticulture for providing innovations and applications for greener and healthier living. The Expo’s display gardens incorporated key elements of living green such as sustainable landscape strategies, biophilic designs and biodiverse habitats. The Expo programme included a calendar of entertaining and educational events including cultural shows, horticultural competitions and flower parades, as well as conferences and forums on topics such as sponge cities and vertical forests.
The Expo park further exemplified the Expo’s theme. During construction, 50,000 trees were preserved and 100,000 trees and shrubs were planted to improve the condition of wetlands, purify water and provide a habitat for migratory birds. The site accommodated ecologically designed pavilions including the 23,000m² China Pavilion, the Botanical Pavilion, the Yongning Tower and the Life Experience Pavilion, some of which will be used for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.
Expo 2019 Beijing was the 21st AIPH approved A1 World Horticultural Expo to take place. At the closing event, AIPH President, Mr Bernard Oosterom thanked the Chinese Government, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) the Expo Coordination Bureau and AIPH’s member in China – the China Flower Association (CFA) for hosting an exceptional event. The next AIPH approved A1 World Horticultural Expo will be held in Doha, Qatar, from 14th October 2021 – 17th March 2022, under the theme ‘Green Desert, Better Environment’. During the ceremony, the flag of AIPH was formally lowered and passed on to Qatar’s Minister for Municipalities and Environment, Mr Abdulla Bin Abdulaziz Al Subai. For more information visit: http://aiph.org/current-events/
– Source: International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH)
