07 June 2002 00:00
CONCERNING RUSSIA'S NOMINATION AS ORGANIZER OF WORLD'S FAIR EXPO-2010
2002-06-06-004
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov gave a reception for ambassadors of foreign states on the occasion of the nomination of the Russian Federation as the organizer of the World's Fair EXPO-2010.
Opening the meeting, Kasyanov, who is the Chairman of the National Organizing Committee for Nomination of Russia As the Organizer of EXPO-2010, said although Russia had taken the most active part in the world exhibition movement since the Great Exposition of 1851, historically it had so happened that not once had world's fairs been held in Russia. That's why the idea of a world's fair in Moscow had from the outset met with support at all levels: in the Government and Parliament, in public organizations and among ordinary Russians. President Vladimir Putin had actively backed this idea.
Emphasizing that the cultures and ways of life of the most diverse peoples are organically intertwined in Russia, Kasyanov added that Russia possesses all the kinds of resources which are of key importance for successful development in the 21st century - from energy to intellectual. He also noted that the shortest routes linking two regions of the world - the West European and the Asian-Pacific - run through Russia.
Speaking of Moscow as the venue, the Prime Minister noted that it is one of the world's largest megalopolises, in which the entire material and spiritual diversity of the country is interlaced. For EXPO-2010, he said, its main exhibition site will be used - the All-Russia Exhibition Center (VVC), which over 10 million people visit each year. Kasyanov also noted that a reconstruction of the VVC complex will be completed by the year 2008. The areas of its exhibition pavilions will total 330,000 square meters. Thus, two years before the opening of the World's Fair, the VVC will become one of the world's largest exhibition complexes.
In this regard, Kasyanov expressed the confidence that the organization of EXPO-2010 will meet not only all the requirements of the Bureau of International Expositions in accordance with the Paris Convention of 1928, but also the highest criteria for an international event even of this level. The inspection group of the Bureau of International Expositions, visiting Moscow at the beginning of this May, was able to see that for itself, he said. He also underscored the role of the reforms lately being actively pursued in every sphere of life in Russia and the stable economic growth, which creates the necessary prerequisites for holding the World's Fair in Moscow.
___________________________________________________________
© Publication of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
|
RUSSIA IN FACTS