Written by: Zhang Ruyun Photographed by: Xu Jiechen

The 138th General Assembly of the Bureau of International Exhibitions (BIE) passed the Application for Registration of the Expo 2010 Shanghai on December 1, 2005. Within a month, the Shanghai 2010 World Expo National Organizing Committee convened its third meeting in Beijing. These two events were of great importance for the preparation of the Expo Shanghai. Our journalist talked with Mr. Zhou Hanmin, Vice Director of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination and the Chinese Representative at BIE concerning the significance of these two events.
Q: What is the legal significance of the approval of the Application for Registration of the Expo Shanghai? What does it mean in relation to the preparation of the Expo Shanghai?
A: The approval of the Application for Registration carries three major significances. They are: a) China will be the first developing country to host the World Expo, which is a comprehensive exposition; the theme and philosophies formulated in our Application for Registration as well as the city's preparatory work over the past three years have already won international recognition. Therefore, the adoption of the Application for Registration once again validates the importance of the our preparatory work over the past three years; b) With respect to the substantive significance, the Application for Registration is an action guideline for the government's future preparatory work for the Expo Shanghai, and for the outside world, it is the relevant legal promise made by the Chinese government. Because of its significance as the action guideline and legal promises, our future preparation and hosting of the World Expo should propel and deepen the implementation of the Application for Registration, instead of lessening its importance in any form; c) The approval of the Application for Registration of the Expo Shanghai by BIE signifies that we have won the legal rights to extend invitations for investors, participants and businesses to the Expo Shanghai. Therefore, the approval of the Application for Registration indicates, to a significant extent, that we have accomplished the legal procedure in preparing for the World Expo, signifying that the first phase of our preparatory work has been completed and the start of our full-scale strategic preparation for the Expo Shanghai. Those are the significances of the successful approval of the Application for Registration.

Q: Shanghai's success in gaining nod for the Application for Registration has set a record as China is the first country to have its Application for Registration approved within the set time frame ever since the practice of submitting Application for Registration was first established. Various government officials and staffs engaged in the preparation of the Expo Shanghai must have spent a lot of efforts in order to gain timely approval for the Application for Registration; could you tell us some details concerning how they prepared the report?
A: The World Expo has a history of 154 years, but there are only three World Expos that witnessed the submission of the Application for Registrations. The first Application for Registration was submitted by the World Expo 2000 Hanover in Germany. Because of the significant gap between the relevant clauses concerning the contract for participation in the World Expo in the Application for Registration of the Expo Hanover and the requirements set by the BIE, the formal approval of the Application for Registration came one year later than scheduled. The second Application for Registration was submitted by the recently concluded World Expo 2005 Aichi in Japan. There was a dramatic change in the selection of the location of the Expo Park after Japan won the right to host the Expo Aichi. The Expo Aichi changed the location of the Expo Park due to oppositions from domestic environmental protection organizations and relevant persons to the original location on the ground that the hosting of the World Expo would pose threat to the forests and endangered animals surrounding the original Expo Park. The change of the location has prompted BIE to conduct a second round of examinations of the Expo Aichi to decide whether the country could still meet the conditions for hosting the Expo, and this whole process has resulted in a one-and-a-half-year delay in the approval of the Application for Registration.
The outline of the Application for Registration of the Expo Shanghai was written in March 2004, which was compiled in line with the convention relating to international exhibitions and relevant stipulations as well as making reference to the experiences of the previous two Expos. The outline was passed at the first meeting of the Shanghai 2010 World Expo National Organizing Committee on June 3, 2004, and in line with the outline, we drafted the Chinese version of the Application for Registration, which gained preliminary approval from the second meeting of the Shanghai 2010 World Expo National Organizing Committee on November 30, 2004. We then polished and revised the writing of Chinese version, and put them into French and English in line with the official language requirement for filing the report. Following relevant stipulations of the convention related to international exhibitions, the Application for Registration should be submitted to BIE five years ahead of the hosting of the World Expo. We submitted the report on April 27, 2005 to BIE in Paris.
The report has gained international concerns. We formally presented it at the executive meeting of BIE on June 23, 2005. On June 24, we made a second presentation at the 137th General Assembly of BIE. Membership countries of BIE posed a total of 161 questions which can be grouped into three categories: a) some categorical questions that should be further clarified; b) questions concerning three "Ms", namely, mistakes that arose due to inaccurate wording, misrepresentations that may cause ambiguities and some missing points; c) differences in the French and English versions of the submitted Application for Registration.
In the second half of June, we put all our efforts into the revision of the Application for Registration. After conducting several working discussions with BIE secretary-general Vicente Gonzalez Loscertales, we finished the revision of the Application for Registration in the shortest time in line with BIE requirements. The writing of the second edition of the Application for Registration was finished at the end of September, and was submitted to BIE, which, upon receiving the report, distributed it to membership countries immediately and decided that the second executive meeting of BIE in 2005 should be convened on October 21. I went to BIE to introduce the revision of the report to the executive meeting of BIE, replying answers to the 161 questions. The discussion of these questions at this meeting lasted for around four hours, and finally we won unanimous praise for the report. The approval of the report is actually a result of the "joint efforts by the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination and the collected wisdom of the whole country", as all of the related sides consume spent lots of efforts on it.

Q: The third meeting of the Shanghai 2010 World Expo National Organizing Committee has called for a full-scale preparatory process for the Expo Shanghai by seizing the opportunity arising from the approval of the Application for Registration, and the meeting has also hammered out major tasks to be executed in 2006 in preparing for the Expo Shanghai. Could you give us a brief introduction to these issues?
A: In 2006, the preparatory work should be in full swing, as I mentioned just now, it should be a full-scale strategic preparation for 2006. In the process of this full-scale preparation, our emphasis should be extending invitations to participant countries. Leaders of our country will soon sign the invitation letters for participating countries and international organizations, showing that the Chinese government is determined to seize the opportunity arising from the approval of the Application for Registration and to run a World Expo that will be a great reunion for the humankind to celebrate the great progress in global development. We have a very clear target for the Expo Shanghai, and we aim to attract 200 countries and international organizations to participate in the Expo Shanghai. Apart from the invitation work, we should also tackle the following major tasks in 2006: the completion of the relocation work within the year, the start of the commercial operation of the Expo Shanghai, further promoting and publicizing the Expo Shanghai along with the full-scale preparation, and to deepen and intensify the planning of the World Expo area. We will not only deepen and intensify the planning for the World Expo area, but also start constructing relevant key infrastructure facilities, whose bidding work should be conducted in line with the principles of openness, fairness and justice. There are also other important tasks like those I have mentioned, but here I won't go into further details.

Q: As the organizer of the Expo Shanghai, how should the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination carry out in the future the requirements made by the third meeting of the Shanghai 2010 World Expo National Organizing Committee and present a splendid, memorable and successful Expo gala to the world by seizing the opportunity stemming from the approval of the Application for Registration?
A: What the third meeting of the Organizing Committee called for can be boiled down to the philosophy of how to run the World Expo. Firstly, how can we run the World Expo in a scientific way? The philosophy of running the Expo scientifically is not only manifested in scientific decision making, but also in the conformity of our philosophy to rules. Secondly, we should initiate innovations in a bold manner, including innovations in systems, institutions, and organizing frameworks, and innovations in the process of deepening the Expo theme as well as introducing hi-tech elements to the Expo. The kind of hi-tech elements should not only manifest itself in the selection of building materials and standards, but also in the exhibition process of the Expo Shanghai. In addition, as I have mentioned earlier, one of the top priorities for the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination is to well publicize and extend invitations to participants, making the emblems and images of the Expo Shanghai well known and inviting as many countries as possible to the Expo Shanghai. All in all, 2006 should be a pivotal year in the preparation for the Expo Shanghai.