His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai said that Dubai will host the 27th International Council of Museums (Icom) General Conference in 2025.
It will be the first Icom conference to be held in the Middle East. At least 119 countries are expected to be in attendance, covering 20,000 international museums. Sheikh Mohammed said the win “gives a strong impetus to the country’s cultural sector”.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai also took to Twitter to announce Dubai’s win to host the global conference.
Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, congratulated the country on Dubai being elected as the host city of the 27th General Conference. He took to Twitter to write, “The world always chooses the UAE as a platform to meet and discuss its most important humanitarian, economic and cultural issues.” ICOM is the International Council of Museums that elects which city will host its flagship conference, which has been held every three years since 1948.
The ICOM General Conference is held once every three years. The 25th edition held in 2019 in Kyoto, Japan, saw the participation of nearly 4,500 specialists in the field of museums from all over the world. The 26th edition is scheduled to be held in Prague, the Czech Republic in 2022.
In April, the UAE chapter of ICOM (ICOM-UAE), in cooperation with three government entities Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), Dubai Municipality, and Dubai Tourism had submitted the UAE’s bid to host the ICOM General Conference 2025 in Dubai under the theme ‘The Future of Museums in Rapidly Changing Communities.’ Dubai will be competing with Stockholm (Sweden) and Kazan (Russia) in the final round of voting.