By HE Francesco Azzarello, Ambassador of Italy to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
“Feeding the Planet. Energy for Life”
Since its opening the 1st of May, EXPO 2015 has been the showroom of efficient and sustainable food management, as well as a unique platform for economic opportunities and political discussions. Leaders, businessmen, visitors from all over the world have gathered in Milan in order to visit the premises of the Exposition and raise awareness on the issue of food production. The message carried through the slogan “Feeding the Planet. Energy for Life” could not have been more timely and effective.
EXPO 2015 has 145 participating countries, among which 54 built up their pavilions and the remaining joined in nine clusters organized around a specific theme: bio-Mediterranean (10), rice (5), cacao and chocolate (6), coffee (10), cereals (7), fruits and legumes (9), islands and sea (14), desert (8), spices (4). Through the clusters, EXPO 2015 has ensured the highest level of representation of African countries ever attained by a Universal Exposition. Among the International Organisations, the United Nations and the European Union set up their own pavilions, with the UN prestigiously established at the Pavilion Zero at the main entrance of EXPO and the UE in front of the Tree of Life. A large number of private companies have also taken an active role, such as Alitalia, Case New Holland, Coca Cola, ENEL, Ferrero, Intesa Sanpaolo, Perugina.
So far EXPO 2015 has attained an impressive record of 11,5 million visitors, with an increasing rate of 120.000-150.000 visitors per day. A larger amount of visitors is expected for the final months of September and October. This remarkable achievements point out that EXPO 2015 has been delivering one of the best performances ever in the history of Universal Expositions.
World leaders have gathered in Milan to visit EXPO 2015, mainly during the national days of their countries: the most intense months have been June and July, and more national days are scheduled for September and October. In the first weeks, EXPO 2015 was visited, among others, by the European Union High Representative Federica Mogherini, President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, Egyptian Minister for Foreign Trade Mounir Abel Nour, Ethiopian Minister of Industry Mebrathu Meles, Indonesian Minister of Trade Rachmat Gobel, Qatari Minister of Economy Sheikh Ahmed Bin Jassim Al-Thani, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.
To recall some of the visits in June, the Chinese Deputy Prime Minister Wang Yang on 8 June, Argentinian President Christina de Kirchner on 9, the Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin on 10. And the British Prime Minister David Cameron on 17, US First Lady Michelle Obama on 18, French President François Hollande on 21, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev on 27. The Japanese Minister of agriculture Yoshimasa Hayashi and the Minister of Economy Daishiro Yamagiwa visited on 11 of July and Queen Letizia of Spain on the 23. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the 18 of August, the Iranian Minister for Industry Mohammen Reza Menatzadeh and Minister of Culture Ali Jannati on the 23, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the 27.
EXPO is a unique opportunity for business. More than 1.750 private companies from 72 countries have registered in the platform EXPO Business Matching, which has been organized in order to facilitate B2B meetings. 350 of them took place in May and June. 400 more delegations of private companies are expected to visit during the months ahead. Also civil society has been actively involved with a dedicated pavilion at Cascina Triulza.
A particular mention should be addressed to the “Women’s week” which took place from 29 June to 10 July, with the participation of the Italian former Foreign Minister Emma Bonino and former Deputy Foreign Minister Marta Dassu’, and the President of EXPO Diana Bracco.
For these many reasons, I warmly invite all of you to visit EXPO Milano 2015 before its ending on 31 October!
