With just over a month to go before a winner is named, Dubai is leading the race to host the 2020 World Expo.

A screengrab of Dubai’s official Expo 2020 website.

Already a tourist hub, the city is competing with Ekaterinburg, Russia; Sao Paulo, Brazil and Izmir, Turkey to host the biggest fair on earth. The Expo, which lasts six months, has never been held in any of the regions – Middle East, Russia and Latin America – bidding for it.The Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions will name the winning city Nov. 27.

This week, Dubai is presenting its theme to a delegation of more than 250 officials from the BIE’s 167 member countries.

“After Ekaterinburg, Sao Paulo and Izmir, Dubai is the last candidate city to uphold its project and present its theme… Delegates of the BIE, local authorities and experts will gather for the occasion,” the BEI says in a post on its website.

In the lead-up to the appraisal event, Dubai said the Expo will generate some 277,000 new jobs in the city.

Dubai has been hosting mega events for years, and the 2013 Dubai Airshow is set to open next month. As of Monday night, its official website had nearly 650,000 “Likes” and 42,000 followers.

The website also features an endorsement from a high-profile personality — Bill Gates.

“Dubai… has modernized itself and taken on tough projects, brought people together in a number of amazing ways,” he said.

“I think they would be a great location for World Expo.”

The Expo has been held in 11 cities, including in Montreal in 1967, in the past 80 years. The Italian city of Milan will host the next event in 2015.