International exhibitions serve not only as venues for exhibiting nations to showcase their cultural and artistic achievements, but also as forums for nations to promote their trade and industry. Studies on the effects of international expositions have indicated that an exhibition can bring about tangible benefits to the host country in terms of increased business opportunities and revenue potential.

The first ‘universal exhibition’ was staged by England in the mid 19th century. The success of this event was instrumental in spawning subsequent exhibitions for which the host countries attempted to outperform the preceding show in terms of size or attendance figures.

The early 20th century saw the rise in popularity of world expos. International exhibitions were organized in many countries and developed nations actively competed for the license to hold a world expo as a means to promote their technological innovations as well as cultural offerings.

These events inevitably gave rise to numerous conflicts of interest and participating governments felt the need to establish regulations. However, it was not until 1928 that the Bureau of International Exhibitions was finally created, in accordance with a diplomatic convention of that year to regulate the conduct of international exhibitions and to act as a liaison in their implementation. Upon Thailand’s listing as a BIE member in 1993, the commerce ministry was authorized to represent the Thai government in all dealings with the bureau.