June 19, 2013. Only Russia’s EXPO 2020 application features video addresses by the Russian President and by an astronaut filmed on board an international space station, head of Yekaterinburg Administration Alexander Yakob said after the trip the Russian delegation made to the BIE General Assembly meeting in Paris.

‘The Administration head pointed out that each of Russian application presentations went through in a very impressive way, which makes us optimistic about the future. The Russian delegates were headed by Russian Vice Premier Arkady Dvorkovitch, who was also one of the primary speakers on Russia’s behalf. Every contestant country presented its stand, and Yekaterinburg’s stand was the best thanks to its being informative and very colorful,’ the city council’s press service quotes Yakob as saying.

Now Paris witnessed the fourth, and final, presentation of the Russian/Yekaterinburg application. In November 2013, delegates of the BIE Assembly will vote on the country and city to host EXPO 2020. Russian President Vladimir Putin promised that a national-scale project would be created to prepare Yekaterinburg for EXPO 2020 in case the city wins the contest.