EXPO 2015 has a goal of one million Chinese visitors, as emerged during the signing at the foreign ministry in Rome of China’s contract for participation in the Milan event.
4500 square metres
The agreement assigns Beijing a strategically located 4500-square-metre exhibition space and “will serve to strengthen economic and industrial cooperation between Italy and the greatest economic power of the 21st century”, Under-Secretary Marta Dassù underscored. Like that of Shanghai in 2010, the Milan Fair will embrace the theme of improving living conditions, with a special focus on fighting hunger. Italy and China, Dassù pointed out, “rely on highly developed farming/agriculture industries and have a specific interest in identifying sustainable forms of working the land”.
EXPO appealing also to major powers
The signing of this contract “shows that our EXPO is appealing also to the major economic powers”, asserted Commissioner General Roberto Formigoni, and “can offer an unparalleled opportunity for development at this difficult juncture, and a unique showcase for our ability for excellence”. The EXPO’s CEO Giuseppe Sala explained that collaboration with China is a three-pronged one consisting of: the pavilion’s “strategic placement” at the centre of the fair site, numerous contacts with Chinese firms that view the Milan EXPO as a “launching pad” toward the Italian and European markets and the attraction of masses of visitors that could “realistically number at least one million”.
Commissioner General of the China Pavilion Wang Jinzhen explained that in Milan “we will do our best to express what distinguishes us” such as, for example, the recent progress in “modernising the farming sector”. Moreover, “it will be an opportunity also to learn from the experience of other countries”. China’s participation will contribute to strengthening bilateral relations with Italy, as Ambassador to Rome Ding Wei stated, explaining that the goal was to double trade in 2016, for a total of 100 billion dollars. What’s more, in 2015 “the European crisis will be over, so it will be the best time to get to know Italy”, which boasts “a very solid real economy and can count on the creativity and innovation represented by the Made in Italy label”. And a million Chinese visitors to the EXPO, he added, “is certain”.
