The focus for this year’s “Festa della Repubblica” (Italian National Day) is EXPO Milan 2015, with initiatives in 180 Embassies and Consulates around the world. “We decided to dedicate Italian National Day in part to the EXPO by using the ceremonies and celebrations in our embassies and consulates as an opportunity to illustrate the initiative”, explained Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini. The Minister attended the event held in Vienna.
On this symbolic day for Italy’s history, the diplomatic-consular network is acting as a mouthpiece for the goals of EXPO Milan: greater equity in the distribution of food resources and the adoption of lifestyles based on environmental sustainability.
Through direct contact with the institutions and citizens of hundred of countries, over the coming months the Italian diplomatic network will step up its efforts to promote EXPO Milan 2015 at the international level. And Italy too: the land of excellence in food and wine, the arts and landscapes.
Promoting EXPO Milan 2015: Dates and events
From 1 to 3 June 2014, our missions in Abu Dhabi, Berlin, Brasilia, São Paolo, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Madrid, New York, Paris, Vienna, Berne, Seoul, Tel Aviv, Tokyo and Washington will all be hosting events to promote the EXPO. Attendees will include representatives of the governments, institutions and cultural communities of the host countries, with over 100,000 people involved. Guests of honour will be the Commissioners General of the countries who have already signed up to EXPO Milan 2015.
Ministers promoting EXPO 2015
While Minister Mogherini is in Vienna promoting the EXPO, her colleague Maurizio Martina, Minister for Agricultural and Forestry Policy, will be in Berlin and the Health Minister, Beatrice Lorenzin, will be in New York. The Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Lapo Pistelli, will be in London, Under-Secretary Benedetto Della Vedova in Seoul and the Secretary General of the Farnesina, Michele Valensise, in New York.
But it’s not just Government representatives who are taking an active part in the promotional campaign. The Mayor of Milan, Giuliano Pisapia, will illustrate EXPO Milan 2015 at the exhibition of Italian art taking place in Abu Dhabi, while the President of Lombardy Region, Roberto Maroni, will be in Berne. EXPO Commissioner Giuseppe Sala will be presenting the event in Tel Aviv along with Education Minister Stefania Giannini, and the Commissioner General for the Italian Pavilion, Diana Bracco, will be in Madrid.
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EXPO Milan
EXPO Milan 2015, the biggest international event planned in Italy over the next few years, will run from 1 May to 31 October 2015 and is intended as a new model for future Universal Expositions. It’s theme is “Feeding the Planet. Energy for Life”.
Alongside the traditional national pavilions, EXPO Milan will also introduce an innovative formula of 9 “clusters”, each with its own architectural concept. The clusters will bring together a number of countries focusing on a common topic (such as a specific type of food production or environmental feature). Each country will have its own exhibition space in the cluster.
The EXPO will cover over 1 million square metres, with exhibition space for 147 participating countries and international organisations (figures at 22 May 2014). So the goal of 130 participants, as agreed with the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), has already been met – and exceeded.
20 million visitors are expected, over 6 million of them foreign citizens taking advantage of package trips also taking in the rest of Italy. Special policies have been introduced to streamline the visa application process.
The United Nations at EXPO Milan 2015
The Universal Exposition’s theme, “Feeding the Planet. Energy for Life”, is closely linked to the United Nations Millennium Goals, whose target date is 2015. Testimony to this connection is the “UN Team” of 22 agencies from the United Nations “system” who will be taking part in the EXPO. For the first time in the history of Universal Expositions, the UN will not have a single pavilion but instead a horizontal involvement with exhibits in numerous areas throughout the Expo Site.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon himself attended an “EXPO evening” in Rome on 7 May, in the magnificent setting of the “Doria Pamphilj Gallery”, to illustrate the UN’s participation. Ban Ki-moon was visiting the city for the UN Chief Executive Board Spring Meetings.
