Kazakhstan warned against mistakes with EXPO-2017

    By Baubek Konyrbayev
    Secretary General of the International Exhibitions Bureau Vicente Loscertales warned Kazakhstan against making mistakes while holding the EXPO-2017, Tengrinews.kz reports.
    "There are many examples where countries lost time and made mistakes. It sometimes happens when a country wins the bid to host an EXPO, but the team that prepared this work changes. This is wrong, as the whole institutional memory and time get lost. In fact, the people who prepare the profile should continue this work. Of course, the team will have to be expanded during the following stages, but the key personnel should remain," Vicente Loscertales said.
    The secretary general gave examples of excellent EXPO hosts.
    "I can give the example of Shanghai, where the exhibition was held at a totally new level. The exhibition in Osaka, Japan, was held at a good level as well," he said.
    According to Loscertales, countries should learn from each case of holding the EXPO, as each of these pursues several different goals during preparations.
    "From this point of view, I can give an example of the successful holding of the EXPO in Lisboa. Back then, it was transformed into a city thanks to it hosting this event. There is the example of Seville, when the Spanish government focused on leveling the development of richer northern and poorer southern parts of the country. A high-speed train was launched. In general, the region benefited from that. This is also very good," Loscertales continued.
    According to the Secretary General, Kazakhstan is not only demonstrating a development pace of a young resource-rich country, but also is realizing its responsibility to the global community.
    "The subject of the exhibition certifies that the country adheres to a "green economy" and to ideas exchange in this area. Success in the EXPO-2017 is a priority for me. I have never seen a more clearly stated and expressed vision than the one presented by President Nursultan Nazarbayev. The development concept is very good, and following it will lead to success," Loscertales said.
    He also gave several recommendations to successfully hold the EXPO-2017.
    "I believe the main recommendation is to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve, and what to strive for. Add a good management to make plans a reality. I would also like to mention two important principles. I always say EXPO is a project for citizens. Its success fully depends on involvement of people. The second principle is that all the work should be performed by the nation’s citizens during the preparation period," Loscertales said, www.tengrinews.kz said.