The likelihood of the United States having an official pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai is ‘hanging by a string,” according to Brenda Foster, President of the American Chamber of Commerce Shanghai.
Although Shanghai has signed up more than 200 nations and organizations
to host pavilions at the much-hyped 2010 Expo, the United States has
yet to commit – primarily because the U.S. Government does not commit
any public funding for such events. Private funding negotiations for a
U.S. pavilion have run into difficulties in the current global
financial situation.
“The United States did not participate at the last World Expo in
Hanover, and that was an embarrassment,” says Foster. “I don’t think it
is good for the U.S. not to have a pavilion at the 2010 Expo. We should
be putting forth the best of U.S. technology on the Expo theme of
Better City, Better Life.”
Despite the U.S. Government’s stance, private businesses are working to
fund an official U.S. Expo pavilion. “Two consortiums of private
companies have been putting together proposals for a U.S. pavilion at
the Shanghai World Expo, and one has a letter of intent from the U.S.
State Department. However, they haven’t been able to raise the
necessary USD80-100m to fund it.”
Foster says that it is “a little too early” to say that the United
States won’t have a pavilion, adding that negotiations are continuing.
“We are waiting until we get the Obama administration in place to see
if things change. But, at the moment, I do not know where we are going
to find the liquidity to make it happen for the Expo 2010 in Shanghai.”
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