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New sponsor still leaves US Expo bid short
By Staff Reporter |
June 19, 2009, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE US group trying to raise US$61 million to build an American pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo says it may need another three to six months to collect the cash.
And since a pavilion can be built in about five months and the Expo organizer has imposed no deadline on the group, there's still time to complete the project, the group said yesterday.
Cargill, the US-based agricultural giant, signed up yesterday to be the seventh sponsor for the pavilion, according to a spokeswoman for Franklin Lavin, co-chairman of the project's steering committee. The other sponsors are 3M, Dell, General Electric, Yum, Golden Eagle and the USA-China Education, Science and Culture Association, according to the woman, who identified herself only by her surname, Shu.
With around 11 months to go before the start of the Expo, less than US$35 million of the budget for the project has been collected or pledged, Shu said, declining to reveal an exact figure.
Lavin said the steering committee was still optimistic because, "There are new sponsors for the US pavilion every week."
The Expo organizer earlier urged all participants to begin construction of their pavilions before the end of June; otherwise they'd have to rent a standard pavilion or hold exhibitions in joint pavilions, Xinhua news agency reported earlier.
But the Expo organizer has not set a deadline for the US to confirm participation, Felix Wong, director of the International Marketing and Partnerships Department of the US pavilion steering committee, said when KFC-owner Yum became a sponsor on May 26.
The US has made only an oral pledge to take part in the 2010 World Expo, which is expected to draw up to 70 million visitors. Confirmed participants include 191 countries and 48 International organizations.
The US government is prohibited by law from funding the Expo pavilion, so it must be built with private money.
And since a pavilion can be built in about five months and the Expo organizer has imposed no deadline on the group, there's still time to complete the project, the group said yesterday.
Cargill, the US-based agricultural giant, signed up yesterday to be the seventh sponsor for the pavilion, according to a spokeswoman for Franklin Lavin, co-chairman of the project's steering committee. The other sponsors are 3M, Dell, General Electric, Yum, Golden Eagle and the USA-China Education, Science and Culture Association, according to the woman, who identified herself only by her surname, Shu.
With around 11 months to go before the start of the Expo, less than US$35 million of the budget for the project has been collected or pledged, Shu said, declining to reveal an exact figure.
Lavin said the steering committee was still optimistic because, "There are new sponsors for the US pavilion every week."
The Expo organizer earlier urged all participants to begin construction of their pavilions before the end of June; otherwise they'd have to rent a standard pavilion or hold exhibitions in joint pavilions, Xinhua news agency reported earlier.
But the Expo organizer has not set a deadline for the US to confirm participation, Felix Wong, director of the International Marketing and Partnerships Department of the US pavilion steering committee, said when KFC-owner Yum became a sponsor on May 26.
The US has made only an oral pledge to take part in the 2010 World Expo, which is expected to draw up to 70 million visitors. Confirmed participants include 191 countries and 48 International organizations.
The US government is prohibited by law from funding the Expo pavilion, so it must be built with private money.
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