"We are craving such a big stage for international exchange," Chen said in his English presentation to a delegation of the Bureau of International Expositions yesterday. "More than ever, Shanghai wants to learn the modern concepts and international experience."

The seven-member BIE team, led by Carmen Sylvain, BIE vice president and chairperson of the BIE Executive Committee, flew from Beijing earlier yesterday.

They will hear more presentations, conduct on-the-spot inspections and also hold discussions with local middle school students over the next two days before heading for Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province for a day trip.

The BIE has the onerous task of choosing the host city for the 2010 World Exposition from Shanghai, Moscow, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Wroclow (Poland) and Yeoso (South Korea) before the end of December.

China was the first of the six countries to formally submit its application for hosting the event, and the BIE team is on the first leg of its global inspection tour.

The BIE, with 88 members, is an inter-governmental organization supervising the implementation of conventions relating to international exhibitions and managing the World Expo.

Chen promised that if Shanghai gets to host the exposition, it will invest US$2.5 billion in the event and keep it running for six months.

The city has chosen "A Better City, A Better Life" as the theme for its bid. If it is successful, more than 100 countries and international organizations will showcase their achievements in city development and urban life improvement, the mayor said.

The expo will open a window of opportunity for 1.3 billion Chinese to see the outside world, while foreigners will get a chance to learn about Chinese history, culture and achievements, he said.

The BIE delegation joined in a tree planting activity yesterday to help mark China's Tree Planting Day.

During its stay in Beijing, the BIE team met President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji, both of whom reiterated the Chinese government's full support for Shanghai's bid.

Meanwhile, a recent public opinion poll conducted by Gallup China suggested a high public recognition for World Expo. It found that more than 90 percent of mainland Chinese and more than 60 percent of Hong Kong and Macau residents had heard about the fair.

In the same poll, 89.4 percent citizens of China's major cities said they believe China is right to bid for the expo, with 78.6 percent confident that Shanghai will be an excellent host.

Experts quoted by Xinhua news agency said that if Shanghai wins the bid, the number of visitors to the exhibition is likely to exceed the all-time high of 64 million reached at the 1970 World Expo held in Osaka, Japan.

They were referring to the population of Shanghai and its neighboring Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, which touches 130 million, many of whom would be potential expo visitors.

Besides that, 64.7 million domestic tourists and more than 2 million overseas travelers visited Shanghai last year, they reasoned.

Experts predicted that 30 to 35 percent of the possible 50 million visitors to the exposition would continue their travels in areas around Shanghai and in other parts of eastern China, including scenic spots like Suzhou, Wuxi and Hangzhou, thus benefiting the neighboring provinces.

Eight companies from France, Canada, Australia, Germany, Japan, Spain and Italy as well as China have tendered designs for 2010 World Expo buildings.

All eight are world-renowned architectural design companies, with some having participated in the site design at the Hanover Expo 2000 in Germany and the Sydney Olympic Games.

The picture shows that Teng Aichun (left) and Li Chunchun, twin sisters and pupils at Soong Ching Ling Kindergarten, shout their support for China's 2010 World Expo bid.

(eastday.com March 13, 2002)