Spain's King Felipe supports Malaga's bid to host Expo 2027

At a meeting with King Felipe VI at La Zarzuela Palace in Madrid on Monday, leading Spanish politicians publicly backed Malaga’s bid to host the Expo 2027, including prime minister Pedro Sánchez, foreign minister José Manuel Albares, the Junta de Andalucía’s minister for the Economy, Carolina España and the president of the Malaga provincial council Francisco Salado.

The following day, Tuesday, the icing was fixed firmly on Malaga's cake when the King publicly announced his support during an event in Madrid, saying that “Malaga is tackling a great challenge to host Expo 2027; the whole of Spain is with it, and it has all our support”.

Representatives of the Bureau International des Expositions in Paris are visiting Malaga today, Wednesday 28 September, to see details of the proposed project for themselves. The mayor, Francisco de la Torre, has said this visit highlights the consensus over Malaga's bid to host the Expo and the ciy's contribution to the Spain brand.

Francisco Salado added that he had a good feeling about this, and that "the delegates are going to be convinced that Malaga is the best option to host the event".

Malaga council is not only planning to organise the exhibition, but has incorporated 17 new projects into the plans. These include a re-naturing plan for La Araña and Peñón del Cuervo; a Green Circle project which involves reforesting over 2,000 hectares on the east side of the ciy; turning Campamento Benítez in Churriana into a ‘green lung’ with 250,000 square metres of trees, public squares and sports tracks; a park on the old Repsol site with over 60,000 square metres of green zones and the 68,000 square metre San Rafael Memory Park.

There are also plans to create more cycle lanes in the city, build a new metro station north of the Expo site, implement a low emission zone and construct an eco-district of more than 900 homes (known as the Manzana Verde project).