Due to the pandemic, the EXPO Dubai 2020 exhibition was held from October 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022. The auditors also requested information from 15 other state administration entities that participated in the exhibition. The total costs from the state budget for the presentation of Slovakia in Dubai reached almost 11 million. euros, of which 7.9 million euros was from the budget of the Ministry of Economy. Based on the information obtained, the national authority for external audit further states that no measurable objectives were set for Slovakia's participation in this event, and the Ministry of Economy did not pay enough attention to budget planning either. "The current findings must be a lesson for the future, as Slovakia is already preparing for the world exhibition in Osaka, Japan in 2025. These events have great potential for the presentation of our country abroad, so it is necessary to pay sufficient attention to them during the preparation," emphasized the vice president of the office. The exhibition was organized by a five-member EXPO team from the Ministry of Economy and a trading company on the basis of a framework agreement. 2.2 million euros was paid to it from the ministerial budget. "Several services provided by a private company were accepted only on the basis of acceptance protocols, which were drawn up formally, and from their description it was not clear in which extent and by what date the individual services were actually implemented. The department was thus unable to demonstrate to auditors the economy of spent public funds," H. Crkoňová pointed out further.

The full text of the press release about this issue in Slovak language