Dubai maintained its position at number 14 in a ranking of the world’s top destination for business events published by the Union of International Associations (UIA) in its 2015 International Meetings Statistics report.

The affirmation of Dubai’s position comes on the back of its selection to host the World Expo in 2020, and the emirate’s target to attract as many as 20 million visitors by then.

This year’s report is the 57th edition of the UIA’s analysis of trends in the international meetings industry, and shows consistency in Dubai’s rise among international meeting cities. Dubai rose seven places in two years — up from number 21 in 2013.

“We are immensely proud of the fact that Dubai has maintained its strong position in the UIA’s rankings in the face of renewed competition and strong economic headwinds globally.

Our aim remains to break into the top 10 destination and, together with our partners, I am confident that we will achieve this as we build a global knowledge hub here in Dubai,” Issam Kazim, chief executive officer of Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing, said in a statement.

Dubai also entered the league of ‘Top 25 Meetings Destinations in Europe, Middle East, Africa,’ a ranking measured annually by Cvent, a cloud-based event management platform.