China's World Expo Provides More Opportunities for World

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, December 05, 2002

China's World Expo Provides More Opportunities for World

As the excitement over winning the2010 World Expo keeps on, Shanghai is speeding up planning how to best grasp the great opportunities accompanying the "Economic Olympics".

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As the excitement over winning the2010 World Expo keeps on, Shanghai is speeding up planning how to best grasp the great opportunities accompanying the "Economic Olympics".

Business opportunities are the most evident benefits of hosting a World Expo, which can promote the development of the international economy, trade and tourism as well as the cultural exchanges and friendly cooperation between countries.

The expo site in Shanghai will cover four square kilometers and will cost at least three billion US dollars to pull down old buildings and construct the new venue.

It will also draw investment worth five to ten times the direct input in fields including structure adjustment, traffic, commerce and rebuilding of the old district.

The half-year exhibition will attract at least 70 million visitors, an alluring prospect for businessmen both home and abroad, according to forecast by local economists.

Though commercial activities are not allowed in the World Expo site, trade outside the venue always flourishes.

Well-known companies participating in the expo will spare no effort to display their economic and technological strength by launching new products creatively combining art with function. Acting as a big "test market", the World Expo will enhance the global popularity of these products.

Meanwhile, the diverse construction styles, customs and cultures that will converge at the expo will also serve as an indispensable bridge to long-term economic and trade cooperation among countries.

The planning, building, exhibiting and later utilization of the World Expo constructions calls for cooperation with the world's first-class foreign enterprises, which will offer a good opportunity for domestic companies to accumulate experience in developing an export-oriented economy.

Though it lost in bidding for planning the expo site, Albert Speer & Partner Co. Ltd. (AS&P), Germany's largest city designer, which took part in designing the 2000 Hanover Expo, has never given up its business hopes in the Chinese market.

"The planning of the Expo venue is just a piece of the enormous business opportunities that will emerge from the preparing and future holding of the expo," Shen Jian, chief representative of the AS&P Shanghai Rep. Office, said.

"If global enterprises were given the chance to vote for the host city of the World Expo, I think the winner would also undoubtedly be Shanghai, which is able to bring about the most extensive and remarkable developing opportunities for the whole world," Shen said.

As the world's largest developing country, China's success in gaining the right to host the expo adds a distinctive page to the history of the event, which has only selected developed countries since it debuted in London over five decades ago.

In a bid to ensure each country participates equally, Shanghai will strive to leave more room for the developing countries, whose number and populations take up the majority in the world.

According to Dai Xin, an official with the World Expo 2010 Shanghai Bidding Office, the city will set up a special office to fulfill China's promises to developing countries during the bidding and formulate feasible policies and regulations to encourage them to join.

China has promised to allocate a special fund of 100 million US dollars to help developing countries participate in the expo.

Naser Abdel Aal, of Tourism Affairs of Egypt, expects the expo to introduce rich tourism sources and economic benefits to participating countries.

Developing countries with long histories and colorful cultures are the optimal choice of Chinese people, who are now heading toward a well-off society and aspire to travel more, said Aal.

In the first three quarters of this year, the number of Chinese citizens touring abroad amounted to 12.3 million, soaring by 38.4 percent over the same period last year.

The bidding theme of "Better City, Better Life" will also help explore sound ways for China and other developing countries to develop cities.

In its history, the World Expo, with a key function of concentrating widely-concerned problems and contemporary human civilizations, has exerted far-reaching influences.

The Eiffel Tower, created for a World Expo, became the symbol of Paris and helped develop and promote new building materials and architectural design. Many history-making inventions, such as the telephone and airplane, all made their first appearance at a WorldExpos.

A lot of common concepts or places, like department stores, tourism sites, amusement parks, holiday villages and clubs, owe their inspiration to the World Expo.

In addition, it has also encouraged discussion of many problems key to the development of human society, such as environmental protection, population control and ecological balance.

Shanghai is now quite confident it will grasp the opportunities of the World Expo for economic and technological innovation and reform, triggering another fast stride in the country's development, observers say.

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