During the first day of the meeting, the General Assembly heard the reports of the Executive Committee, Rules Committee, Administration and Budget Committee, Communication and Information Committee, about works and plans of 2012.

The General Assembly approved candidature projects for Astana 2017 Kazakhstan and Liege 2017 Belgium, which were submitted by the Executive Committee after the examining the report of Inquiry Mission in March.

The General Assembly also approved the resolution put forward by China on registering October 31 as the "World Better Cities Day" in the United Nations.

Since the opening of Yeosu Expo site on May 12th, the Expo has received about 1.2 million visitors in the past 32 days, Ambassador Bae Young-Han, Third Vice Secretary-General, The Organizing Committee for Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea, said on the meeting.

A total of 104 countries and 10 international organizations are participating in the Yeosu Expo.

In Milan, the preparation for the World Expo 2015 is also progressing smoothly. 85 countries and international organizations officially confirmed participation of the event under the theme "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life".

The organizers hope to reach 100 before the opening of the Second International Participation Meeting in Milan this October and 110 by the end of 2012.

More than 40 high-level officials from candidate cities and countries and 70 journalists from all over the world assisted the second-day General Assembly.

As the final sprint of candidature campaign for the International Expo 2017, two candidate cities, Liege of Belgium and Astana of Kazakhstan made 30-minute presentation respectively in order to convince the delegates to choose their project.

The vote for host of Expo 2017 will take place at the next General Assembly on November 21 and 22 this year.

Izmir of Turkey, Ayutthaya of Thailand, Sao Paulo of Brazil, Yekaterinburg of Russia and Dubai of United Arab Emirates, are competing for organizing the World Expo 2020.

More Information:

>> Yeosu Expo Guide