• Government
• Pavilion location
• The Commissioner General
• Negotiations
• Signing of the contract

Government approved the official participation of the Slovak Republic in the World Exhibition EXPO Shanghai 2010

Bratislava 5 September 2007

At its today´s meeting the Government definitely approved the official participation of the Slovak Republic in the Exhibition Expo Shanghai 2010. The approved proposal allows for the Slovak participation in the World Exhibition Expo Shanghai 2010 in the national pavilion of the area app. 1000 m2 , constructed by the exhibition organizer. The settlement of the estimated costs for Slovak participation in the amount of 90 million SKK will be equally shared by the Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Construction and Regional Development, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Transport, Posts and Telecommunication, Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Slovak Republic. At the same time it is expected that SR with the aim to back the project will support mixing of public and private financial funds. The costs for rent of the area in the constructed pavilions are estimated in the amount of 500 USD per square meter. Member states of BIE organisation (Bureau International des Expositions), including SR as well, will have a 15% discount on the rent of the exhibition space.

EXPO 2010 is the second official world exhibition in this millennium and Chinese Shanghai was the winner out of five most serious candidates. The exhibition will take place from 1 May till 31 October 2010 in a new exhibition complex of the area of app. 528 ha located in the biggest Chinese urban agglomeration Shanghai on the banks of Huangpu River. Budgeted costs of building the exhibition site are 3 billion USD and 70 million visitors are expected.

The theme of the world exhibition EXPO 2010 „Better city, better life“ follows a global issue of urban agglomeration development which will be by the end of the second decade of the 21st century inhabited by two thirds of human population. Cities will play a key role in the globalisation process and will determine principal trends of human civilisation development.

Participation in the World Exhibition EXPO Shanghai 2010 will be the fifth individual participation of the Slovak Republic in such an important event. In 1993 the Slovak Republic had a stand-alone exhibit display at „EXPO Taejon“, in 1998 at „EXPO Lisbon“ and in 2000 at „EXPO Hannover“. Slovakia did not take part in EXPO Aichi 2005. This year Slovakia is preparing for its participation in the international exhibition EXPO Zaragoza 2008. Slovak displays on these world exhibitions were given very positive feedback from both the organisers and the visitors. Number of visitors of the Slovak pavilions highly exceeded the average visit rate.

At present China is the world´s fourth largest economy and the third biggest world´s exporter. Economies of the whole Asian area are making rapid progress; advanced countries of the world are making amount of effort to strengthen and expand their business activities in this part of the world. Bilateral trade between the Slovak Republic and the People´s Republic of China and other Asian countries is developing dynamically, while there are preconditions for its further considerable growth. It is essential to support this trend by our participation in important exhibition and fair events organised in this part of the world, and the World Exhibition EXPO 2010 Shanghai is the most significant event of this kind in this decade. Though it is not possible to exactly calculate the economic gain resulting from the participation of SR in this world exhibition, undoubtedly its synergistic effects will become evident in development of commercial cooperation of SR with China, as well as with other participants of this event. Participation of a country at an international forum of such dimensions is also an exceptional opportunity to promote itself among countries that are able to be actively engaged in the areas of global importance. It is a presentation and promotion of a country in a non-standard environment, in which the exhibiting countries are presenting, in line with the central theme of the exhibition, their culture, nature and the relation of its people to it, technical progress and other aspects.