Milan Expo to boost Sino-Italian relations: CEO

The Milan Universal Exposition will further strengthen Sino-Italian relations, particularly in the vital field of sustainable nutrition, the CEO of Expo 2015, Giuseppe Sala, told Xinhua in a recent exclusive interview.

China officially signed the agreement became on Tuesday one of the expected 130 participant countries at the Expo Milano that will be held from May 1 to Oct. 31, 2015, in Italy. The Expo is expected to host thousands of events and attract over 20 million visitors from all over the world, Sala said.

The Chinese pavilion, one of the largest, will provide the opportunity to showcase the outstanding food tradition of China.

"We really look forward to seeing China's interpretation of the Expo 2015 theme 'Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life,' aimed at arousing awareness of hunger challenges and fostering the commitment to the necessity of not wasting," he said.

"The event will be an outstanding opportunity for any Chinese company that is searching for an introduction to the European market," Sala said, adding that he expected at least "one important Chinese group" to be a partner of the Milan Expo with its own thematic pavilion.

"It is our goal to bring at least one million Chinese people per year to Italy, starting with Expo 2015. This will mean both improving tourist reception, but also easing the bureaucratic strings that hamper visa issuance," he said.

"Our site is much smaller than that of Shanghai Expo 2010, about one fifth of the Chinese area, however this is in line with European standards. The site stretches 1.1 million square meters and is in the north-western part of Milan," Sala noted.

He said the Milan Expo is investing on sustainability starting from the "total walkability" inside its site and the use of the most cutting-edge technologies. Around 56 percent of the area will be covered with plants, and environmentally friendly materials while renewable energies will reduce power consumption.

Meanwhile, the CEO underlined that "we have learned so much and are continuing to learn from the Shanghai Expo team. The organization of the Shanghai event was extraordinary. We are very happy to have established a partnership with the Shanghai Expo Organizing Committee. Thanks to their experience, they are helping us to handle a series of operational issues from site access to the hospitality service."

"Our goal is to organize a modern, fresh and attractive event around what we consider to be a very exciting theme," he said. It will be an opportunity for countries to share knowledge on how to overcome nutritional issues and to showcase the sustainable solutions that companies are experimenting in this field.

Moreover, the concept of "Feeding the Planet, energy for life" is also intimately connected to Italian lifestyle, he said. Italy is well-known in the world for its unique food tradition and industry including no fewer than 36,000 firms generating an annual turnover of around 127 billion euros (about 162 billion U.S. dollars).

Finally, Sala added, Italy is also the headquarters of the three United Nations agencies active in the fields of food, agriculture and hunger.

"The UN, to which the nutrition subject is particular dear, is thoroughly committed to Expo 2015, and has especially empowered the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to play a strategic supporting role thanks to its expertise in this field."

For example, he pointed out, "we are working closely with FAO on the project of clusters, or shared thematic pavilions, in the fields of, for example, rice, coffee, spices or agriculture in arid areas."

The idea of grouping countries together in clusters is extremely important for those countries who wish to participate at Expo 2015, but do not have the capacity to build their own pavilion, he said.

Regarding the economic crisis, Sala said "whereas last year some local administrations had to review their stake, the Italian government has confirmed its financial support and, even during the recent spending review, it did not reduce the allocated 1.3 billion euro amount by a penny."

"The government has repeatedly declared that Expo 2015 will represent Italy's opportunity to overcome the current economic crisis," he added.

Moreover, the overall budget planned by the single participating countries and corporations is expected to add another 1.3 billion euros, of which some 220 million has already been allocated by the Expo partner companies Telecom Italia, Enel, Accenture, Cisco, Intesa SanPaolo and Finmeccanica. "We expect to announce more partnerships in the near future."

Concerning the construction work, "building is well under way on the site and we will launch more tenders shortly for the service areas. A number of 108 countries have already confirmed their presence and this time next year we should be in the position to hand over the single lots to the participating countries. This will be the real test," Sala said.