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US would rue missing Expo, says organizer
By Elaine Kurtenbach |
March 21, 2009, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE United States will regret missing the 2010 Shanghai World Expo if it fails to raise funds needed for an American exhibit in time, one of the organizers said yesterday, though he also said he believed a US pavilion would be built.
"The failure of the US would be a cause for regret for visitors to the event, but I think it will be a greater cause for regret for the US and the American people," said Zhu Yonglei, deputy director general of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination.
Zhu said he believed the US would come through, given the effort by President Barack Obama's administration to rebuild America's global image.
The Expo, he said, "is a chance for the US to present its new image not just to China, but to the whole world."
American organizers have been struggling to raise the US$61 million in private funding they say is needed for a pavilion at the event. US law prohibits the State Department, the government body in charge of participation in such activities, from using public funds to build or operate an exhibit.
The US missed the 2000 Expo in Hanover, Germany, because of a lack of funding. The US pavilion at the 2005 Expo in Aichi, Japan, was built with help from Japanese companies, including Toyota Motors North America.
Shanghai has a US$100 million fund to subsidize pavilions, but that money is earmarked for developing countries, Zhu said.
The Shanghai Expo will run from next May to October at a 5.3-square-kilometer site of former shipyards and steel mills that is rapidly being transformed by a construction crew of 10,000.
Pavilions must break ground by late May or early June this year, at the latest, to be ready in time, and officials in charge admit being a bit anxious about meeting their deadlines.
"We'll definitely get it all done in time. We're working weekends and overtime to make sure we do," said She Zhiping, an engineer on the project. "But sure, in our hearts we feel great urgency."
"The failure of the US would be a cause for regret for visitors to the event, but I think it will be a greater cause for regret for the US and the American people," said Zhu Yonglei, deputy director general of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination.
Zhu said he believed the US would come through, given the effort by President Barack Obama's administration to rebuild America's global image.
The Expo, he said, "is a chance for the US to present its new image not just to China, but to the whole world."
American organizers have been struggling to raise the US$61 million in private funding they say is needed for a pavilion at the event. US law prohibits the State Department, the government body in charge of participation in such activities, from using public funds to build or operate an exhibit.
The US missed the 2000 Expo in Hanover, Germany, because of a lack of funding. The US pavilion at the 2005 Expo in Aichi, Japan, was built with help from Japanese companies, including Toyota Motors North America.
Shanghai has a US$100 million fund to subsidize pavilions, but that money is earmarked for developing countries, Zhu said.
The Shanghai Expo will run from next May to October at a 5.3-square-kilometer site of former shipyards and steel mills that is rapidly being transformed by a construction crew of 10,000.
Pavilions must break ground by late May or early June this year, at the latest, to be ready in time, and officials in charge admit being a bit anxious about meeting their deadlines.
"We'll definitely get it all done in time. We're working weekends and overtime to make sure we do," said She Zhiping, an engineer on the project. "But sure, in our hearts we feel great urgency."
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