Turkey’s first world botanical expo kicks off

ANTALYA - Anadolu Agency

DHA photo

The 2016 World Botanic EXPO, one of the largest horticultural shows in the world, kicked off with an official ceremony on April 22 in Turkey’s Mediterranean resort city of Antalya.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu attended this year’s opening ceremony.        
The World Botanic EXPO, which is the first hosted by Turkey in the event’s 160-year history, will last six months, April to October, and will take place on a sprawling, 121-hectare exhibition site.        

The expo, themed “Flowers and Children,” is meant to promote Turkish history and cultural diversity as well as Turkey’s rich agricultural and economic potential. Reflecting this, the slogan of the event is “A green world for future generations.”

It features national and international events such as concerts, congresses and symposiums, dance shows, musicals, plays, workshops, streets shows and special events for national days and the holy month of Ramadan.        

Up to 8 million visitors are expected to visit the six-month event. Beside green areas, the expo will feature “Turkey’s Eiffel Tower,” a lake, a biodiversity course, a children’s island, a glass bridge, an agriculture and biodiversity museum, a science and technology center for children as well as food courts, amphitheaters, watermills, and gardens from participating countries.        

The expo also displays horticultural varieties and products from abroad, especially vegetation and green culture. The expo will boast 25,000 trees from 120 different species. Besides a 650,000-square-meter green field, there is an 80-square-meter lake on the exhibition site. Some 300,000 square meters are reserved for visitors.        

More than 50 countries are expected to participate in the expo, including China, Japan, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Qatar, Uganda, Mexico, Zimbabwe, Burundi, the Netherlands, Germany, Hong Kong, Senegal and South Africa, to name but a few.