Joana Gomes Cardoso will be the general commissioner of Expo Osaka 2025 – Observer

This Friday, in the Council of Ministers, the Government approved the resolution that appoints the commissioner general for Portugal’s participation in Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai, in Japan. It will be Joana Gomes Cardoso, who until last year was president of the Management of Equipment and Cultural Animation of the Câmara de Lisboa (EGEAC).

In a statement, the Council of Ministers confirmed the appointment of Joana Gomes Cardoso, “who is responsible for ensuring, in coordination and in addition to the work carried out by the Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade of Portugal, EPE (AICEP, EPE), a multidisciplinary approach and cross-section of Portugal’s participation in that exhibition, particularly in the cultural area.”

Former journalist, Joana Gomes Cardoso was vice-president of Amnesty International in Portugal and general director of the Office of Planning, Strategy, Evaluation and International Relations (GPEARI) of the Ministry of Culture, functions she held between 2010 and 2012. She was also president of EGEAC’s board of directors until June 2022, when he resigned. Last year, she was decorated by the French Government as an officer of the Order of Arts and Letters.

The city of Osaka, Japan, will host the World Expo which will run from April 13 to October 13, 2025. It is the second time in history that the city has hosted the exhibition — the first time was in 1970, under the theme “Progress and Harmony for Humanity”.

Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai is overseen by the Bureau International des Expositions and under the theme “Designing Future Society for Our Lives” and the sub-themes “Saving Lives”, “Empowering Lives” and “Connecting Lives”, in line with the 2030 Agenda — Goals of United Nations Sustainable Development.

The last Universal Exhibition was in 2020 in Dubai. At the time, the commissioner-general chosen by the Government was Celso Guedes de Carvalho, but he was dismissed four months before the opening of the exhibition, having been replaced by the president of AICEP – Agency for Investment and External Trade in Portugal, EPE, Luís Castro Henriques.