Saudi Arabia, BIE Sign Hosting Deal for Expo 2030 Riyadh

Saudi Arabia and the Bureau International des Expositions have signed the SEE (Siège) Agreement for Expo 2030 Riyadh in August 2026, following approval by the BIE General Assembly in Paris in June 2026. The agreement establishes the legal and administrative framework for participation by countries and international organizations in the event.

The framework covers travel and visa arrangements for official participants and their accredited staff, including facilitation measures for entry into Saudi Arabia tied specifically to Expo participation. It also sets out tax and customs measures, offering preferential treatment for goods, equipment, and materials imported for Expo pavilions and operations.

Additional provisions address mobility support for participant teams within Riyadh — covering local transportation, site access, and related logistics — alongside technical and administrative requirements for planning, constructing, and operating national and organizational pavilions on the Expo site. With the agreement now in force, official participants have a formal basis to advance their pavilion planning and construction phases.

Why it matters

Saudi Arabia holds official organizer status for Expo 2030 Riyadh, authorized after the BIE General Assembly approved the Kingdom's registration file in June 2025. The event is scheduled to run from 1 October 2030 to 31 March 2031 on a site of roughly 6 million square meters, with a gated event area of about 2 million square meters.

Site preparations are already advancing, with several million cubic meters of earthworks completed and a large share of development areas handed over for later construction stages by mid-2026. As of August 2026, no official SAR-denominated schedule for participation fees, ticket prices, or pavilion rental has been publicly disclosed, and there is no publicly documented requirement for participants or visitors to use specific government platforms as dedicated Expo registration or payment channels.

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