Expo 2020 Dubai has ended with a grand closing ceremony. Fireworks and different performances took place on the closing ceremony. Dubai expo started on October 1, 2021, and ended on March 31, 2022. It was originally scheduled for October 2020 to April 2021 but was postponed due to COVID-19. The UAE relaxed most COVID restrictions for the event. The expo registered at least 20 million visits.

The pandemic-delayed Expo 2020 in the United Arab Emirates closed on Thursday after eight years of anticipation, over $7 billion of investment, 240 million hours of labor and six months of festivities.

After 182 days of festivities, the curtain came down before an audience of tens of thousands, and a global viewership of millions. Expo 2020 Dubai's closing ceremony promised to be just as iconic as its opening show, and it delivered.

With over 200 pavilions, Expo 2020 Dubai had much to offer its visitors, whether it was stunning designs, innovations or entertainment. Of which; some national pavilions will be demolished. A few will remain, like an enormous lacework dome and the UAE's soaring falcon-shaped pavilion. Other buildings will be rebranded for a new business district soon to rise from the site.

An official awards ceremony was held on the eve of the closing ceremony and has recognised the best of pavilions.

The recipients of the Official Participant Awards were decided by an international jury of nine experts in a range of relevant fields. The jury visited each international pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai during the course of two sessions, in January and March of 2022.

Split into five categories according to the size and type of pavilion, the awards recognise three aspects of pavilions: Architecture and landscape for self-built pavilions only; exhibition design; and theme interpretation.

A total of 51 Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards were handed out during the ceremony, which took place in Jubilee Park.

The ceremony featured a final rendition of Expo's theme song 'This is Our Time', as well as musical performances by the Firdaus Orchestra, Christina Aguilera, Norah Jones and Yo-Yo Ma. The Expo baton was also handed over to Japan, which will host the next world fair in Osaka in 2025.

Expo, which started with the 1851 Great Exhibition in London and has since showcased innovations such as the telephone and microwave, now moves to Osaka in Japan for the 2025 edition on a man-made island.

“It’s clear that we have set a new bar here - it’s something I believe (Osaka) will look to aspire to,” said Dimitri Kerkentzes, secretary-general of the Bureau International des Expositions, according to a UAE newspaper.

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