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EXPO Milano 2015 News Pick

The Second International Participation Meeting held in Milan

The second edition of the International Participants Meeting of Expo Milano 2015 opened on October 10, 2012 for three days in Milan, Italy.

The IPM is organized annually during the preparation of an Expo by the host country to provide the participating countries key information about this forthcoming event.

The organizer announced that 105 countries and international organizations have confirmed participation in Expo Milano 2015.

After Switzerland and Germany, the first two countries to sign the participation contract, another 13 countries have also sealed the deal with the organizers during the participation meeting.

The meeting is an opportunity to share information and discuss ideas among participants and discuss their involvement, theme development on “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life” and physical placement in the Expo Site.

The organizers delivered a “Theme Guide” to the delegations, which is the first time that an Expo organizer develops such a specific detailed document providing concrete guidance on the theme development.

The meeting started on Wednesday with the Flag Ceremony in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan city center and continued at the Milan University (Università degli Studi di Milano).

Roberto Formigoni, General Commissioner of Expo Milano 2015, Vicente Gonzalez Loscertales, Secretary General of Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) and Manoj Juneja, Deputy Director-General of FAO attended the opening meeting.

The General Commissioner, Roberto Formigoni, said the next two years would be a period of “constant dialogue” whose arrival point will be a “final statement that will contain specific commitments we will propose to subscribe to all countries.”

Secretary General of BIE, Vicente Loscertales said that the success of an Expo is a shared responsibility between the organizers, the participants and the BIE. The Secretary General stressed his confidence of the event, and added "few events like an Expo can inject new life in the economy.”

Mayor of Milan and Special Commissioner of the Italian Government for Expo Milano 2015, Giuliano Pisapia, and the CEO of Expo 2015 Company, Giuseppe Sala, informed about the progress of the Expo project.

The second day of the meeting focused on the theme and visitor’s experience. Group discussions in the afternoon were dedicated to official and non-official participants separately.

The last day of IPM 2012 focused on the relation between participants and Expo Milano 2015. Delegations discussed technical issues related to their presence at the event with the organizers.

The Italian Prime Minister, Mario Monti, addressed the public at the closing ceremony of the meeting. “The Expo 2015 is an exceptional opportunity for economic recovery. Certainly we will not be waiting passively for this opportunity,” said the Prime Minister.

Beyond the oﬃcial program of IPM 2012, Expo Milano 2015 promoted a calendar of side events organized before and after the event on issues such as water and eating healthy food.

“Carta 2015”, an Expo legacy to the future

Vicente Gonzalez Loscertales, Secretary General of the BIE, Roberto Formigoni, Commissioner General of the EXPO Milano 2015 and President of the Lombardy Region, Prof. Umberto Veronesi, Scientific Director European Institute of Oncology, Prof. Chiara Tonelli, Full professor of Genetics, Università degli Studi di Milano

Expo Milano 2015 organized a public round table "Carta 2015" to discuss the Expo theme, "Feeding the Planet, Energy For Life," that should be one of the main legacies of Expo Milano.

"Carta 2015" will invite scientific and cultural intellectuals around the world to discuss key issues. And in the coming three years, experts, invited by the organizers, will write a document that can offer solutions to the challenges that the world is facing in the field of nutrition.

A message delivered in the name of Nelson Mandela

At the occasion of the 1st roundtable on Carta 2015 organized in Milan on October 25, 2011, the Secretary General of the BIE, Mr. Loscertales indicated in his introductory remarks that "The theme of Milan 2015 touches issues at the core of our survival: over-use of resources, unequal access to food, unbalances between consumption patterns, and so on.

A vital and basic element such as food is one of the main sources of risk to the well-being of humanity and of our planet. 2015 remains a challenging deadline to meet the Millennium Development Goals. Milan World Expo can embrace to reinvigorate the objectives and re-energize the international community".

He stressed that "Carta 2015 is a key initiative that can achieve two goals, the first is to provide the 'fil rouge' for Expo 2015 to develop initiatives that will help establish the necessary authority and thought leadership needed to make Milan 2015 the reference event on sustainability and nutrition. The second is to provide a starting point for developing a roadmap containing concrete actions to be followed and implemented beyond 2015."

The early start of the project, according to Mr. V. González Loscertales is also a "necessity" which will launch a concerted effort to gather the understanding and commitments that will bring changes on matters as vital as nutrition and sustainability.

More than 50 participants to join Expo Milan 2015

Official Website of Expo Milano 2015

First Participants’ Meeting for Expo 2015 opens in Milan

The First International Participants Meeting for World Expo 2015 opens on October 25, 2011 in Milan and initiated with the Flags Display Ceremony.

The flags of all the confirmed Official Participants to Expo Milano 2015 were unveiled to be permanently displayed in the centre of Milan until the end of the Expo Milano 2015.

From left front: Vicente Gonzalez Loscertales, Secretary General of BIE; Giuliano Pisapia, Special Commissioner of Italian government for Expo Milano 2015, and Mayor of Milan; Giuseppe Sala, CEO of Expo 2015 S.p.A.; Jean-Pierre Lafon, President of BIE (25.10.2011)

More than 700 delegates from around 90 countries have attended meeting. As of the opening of the meeting, 57 countries and international organizations had confirmed their participation to the EXPO Milano 2015, three years ahead of the Expo's opening on May 1 2015.

"This meeting is a key moment in the Expo project. It is equally important for the organizers, for the participants and for the BIE. It is a time when we are laying the cornerstone of the participation; and we are placing a time stamp on the beginning of a cooperation project that will last until 2015 and beyond," said Vicente Gonzalez Loscertales, Secretary General of BIE at the opening session.

"The theme of Milano 2015 "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life" must be understood as essential foundations for building quality participation," added Loscertales.

"The theme must be a permanent reminder to everyone that we continue to use more of the earth's resources that are available. [...] We shall focus on effective educational messages and deliver - at least some solutions - to make real progress towards creating sustainable lifestyles."

Jean-Pierre Lafon, President of BIE, spoke at the Flag Display Ceremony and indicated that Milan may "take the role of being innovative, not only in the organization, but also your thinking and contents by foreseeing to group the different participations by their theme" to cope with the challenges they will meet during the preparation of the event.

Jean-Pierre Lafon, President of BIE

Giuliano Pisapia, Special Commissioner of Italian government for Expo Milano 2015, and Mayor of Milan, speaks at the Flag Display ceremony

Guido Podesta, President of the Province of Milan

Diana Bracco, president of EXPO 2015 S.p.A

Roberto Formigoni, General Commissioner of Expo 2015 and President of Lombardie Region

A public roundtable "Carta 2015" was organized to discuss the theme of EXPO Milano 2015. The initiative is intended to be one of the main legacies of Expo Milano 2015. Through a broad international debate, it aims at discussing the great challenges the world is facing in the field of nutrition and present proposals for their solution.

Carta 2015 round table discussion

On October 25, 2011, at the opening plenary session of the meetings in Como, Italy, the General Commissioner of Expo 2015, Mr. Formigoni, delivered a message from the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano.

"I'm satisfied to have found that the official participants that have joined Milan's Expo are already 57, including governments and international organizations, plus a big number of private entities.

"This universal exhibition will be the most relevant event hosted in Italy in the last decades. I fervently hope that the active collaboration of the national and international parties involved can fully realize the significant potential of Expo 2015, catalyzing the best skills and resources available on a global scale around a strategic theme as 'Feeding the Planet, energy for life'."

The first meeting of the International Participants is one of the most important events during the preparation and implementation process of the Expo that allows early engagement of international participants, who will have the opportunity to actively contribute to the development of the Expo theme.

A video made by Expo Milano 2015 organizers on the First International Participants' Meeting

Read More:
The Program for the International Participants Meeting (in English)

The Official Website of Expo Milan 2015

More than 50 participants to join Expo Milan 2015

A world map shows the participating countries and international organisation in World Expo Milan 2015 as of October 12, 2011.

(Source: en.expo2015.org)

Milan has attracted 57 Official Participants; 56 countries and the United Nations, to participate in the World Expo to be held in 2015, now less than 1300 days before the opening of the event.

The Italian organisers have already achieved their goal of attracting 50 participants by the end of 2011, four months ahead of time.

All the participants will contribute to the theme "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life" during the six-month event.

Milan is preparing its first International Participation Meeting of Expo Milan 2015 from October 25 to 27 in Milan and Como to discuss more detailed participation information.

The organisers are expecting more confirmation of participation after the event.

The last World Expo was held last year in Shanghai, drawing a record of more than 73 million visitors, and made an operating profit of more than 1 billion yuan (US $157 million).

The International Exhibitions Bureau has officially registered Expo Milano 2015

06/12/10 – It is during the 148th session of the General Assembly of the BIE, on November 23, 2010, that the Member States of the BIE approved the registration of the next World Exhibition that will take place in Milan in 2015.

Ms. Letizia Moratti, Special Commissioner for Expo 2015, Ms. Diana Bracco, President of the Board of Expo 2015 S.p.A., the company responsible for the organisation of the Expo, and Mr. Giuseppe Sala, PDG, presented the progress report of the Expo 2015 project to the General Assembly.

At the end of the presentation, the President of the BIE, Jean-Pierre Lafon, and the Secretary General, Vicente González Loscertales, passed the BIE flag symbolically to the Italian Delegation in charge of the project.

From left to right holding the flag: Bruno Dapei, Vicente G. Loscertales, Letizia Moratti,

Jean-Pierre Lafon, Diana Bracco, Claudio De Albertis, Giuseppe Sala

Italian journalists were present on this occasion to cover the event.

At the same time in Milan, the official registration of Expo 2015 was celebrated in the Scala Square by the local authorities and the people of Milan.