PARIS, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Floriade Expo 2022 Amsterdam-Almere was formally recognized on Wednesday in Paris by the 162nd General Assembly of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) as an International horticultural exhibition.
Approved by member states of the BIE, the formal recognition allows the Netherlands to begin to invite official participants from all over the world.
Wednesday's formal recognition was followed by a ceremonial handing of the BIE flag to Franc Weerwind, Mayor of Almere, and Jannewietske de Vries.
"Floriade Expo 2022 will focus on the change from Garden City to Green City. We want to share ideas and develop innovations on a joint basis with regard to the liveable city of the future," said Franc Weerwind, in presenting the Expo project to delegates gathered in Paris since Tuesday for the assembly.
"Floriade Expo 2022 will be the seventh BIE-recognized Horticultural Expo in the Netherlands, a country that leads the way in promoting the green city concept. We now look forward to the Expo project coming to life as the Netherlands invites official participants," commented Dimitri Kerkentzes, deputy secretary general of the BIE.
Floriade Expo 2022 will be held on a 60-hectare site in Almere, located within the Amsterdam metropolitan area in the Netherlands, between April 28 and Oct. 23, 2022.
Themed "Growing Green Cities," the expo will have four subthemes, which are Green, Food, Health and Energy.
The Organizers of the Expo aims to address how the green city concept can be expressed and how urban challenges like feeding the city, improving the health of citizens, ensuring enough green space and reducing energy consumption will be tackled.
Starting with Floriade Expo 1960 in Rotterdam, the BIE has recognized 22 international horticultural exhibitions, aiming to promote and support a more harmonious relationship between people and nature.
The most recent Horticultural Expo gathered over 4.5 million visitors in Antalya, Turkey, in 2016. The next Horticultural Expo will take place in Beijing, China, between April 29 and Oct. 7 2019, under the theme "Live Green, Live Better".
