ASTANA – Chairman of Astana EXPO 2017 national company Akhmetzhan Yessimov briefed on Sept. 30 more than 50 heads of foreign diplomatic missions accredited to Kazakhstan on expo preparations and urged them to help accelerate the work of the exhibition’s official participants.
“The construction of all pavilions, located on 174 hectares, has been coming to the finish line. At the end of October, we are planning to provide these objects for international participants’ use for installation and other works,” he said.
To date, 103 countries and 17 international organisations have confirmed their participation and 98 sections commissioners have been appointed. Sixty-two countries have booked celebrations of their national days during the exhibition which will last from June 10 through Sept. 10, 2017. The chair also said there are only five available pavilions that will be distributed soon.
“Great attention is paid to the content of international pavilions. Today, we are receiving requests from our international colleagues on how to develop a theme of the exhibition. In this regard, I would like to highlight projects of the national pavilions of Austria, the U.K., Germany, China, Pakistan, Poland, Japan and Russia that were presented to us for consideration,” said Yessimov, asking the diplomats to help speed up the granting of concepts of pavilions of their countries.
He also informed the diplomatic corps about a contest on best global practices in the field of energy for the Energy Best Practices Area (eBPA) Pavilion at EXPO 2017. A commission headed by Secretary General of the International Exhibitions Bureau Vicente Loscertales chose 22 winning projects out of 133 submissions from more than 25 countries.
“We are starting a large-scale public relations campaign to promote Astana EXPO 2017 around the world in collaboration with the American company Burson Marsteller,” said Yessimov. The company was founded in 1953 and is a leading global public relations and communications firm.
Yessimov also informed participants that the Astana EXPO 2017 national company has signed agreements and memorandums with local and foreign partners totalling $141 million. He also said that in November, the Unified Service Centre will start its activity. It will help participants access a wide range of public services in a single location.
