Commodity Online CALIFORNIA (USA): When much of the world will be looking forward to participating in world largest expo to be hosted by China in May 2010, don’t be surprised if USA is not there.
Scheduled to start on May 1, 2010, and continuing for six months, the nations of the world will gather in Shanghai to participate in what is forecast to be the largest, most heavily attended Worlds Fair in history.
But USA may not participate because of a US Congress legislation of 1990-co-authored by "First, legislation enacted by Congress in 1990-1991, coauthored by Rep. Neil Smith, (D-Iowa) and Sen. Ernest Hollings, (D-South Carolina) that forbade the use of public funds for US participation in Expos.
The legislation pointed out that funding such events were not in the best interest of the American taxpayer. Following this legislation and an embarrassing withdrawal from the Millennium Exposition in Hanover in 2000, the US has been largely absent from the Expo world stage, and except for a few years in the last century, has not been a member of the Bureau for International Expositions (BIE), the international treaty organization that oversees Expos and to which every other nation belongs, according to BH&L Group, the organizers of China Shanghai Expo 2010.
”Incredibly, without immediate and decisive action on the part of American industry leaders the United States of America will be glaringly absent from this global celebration. The result will be an insult to the Chinese government, global humiliation for the American people, and a serious blow to the sale of US products and services in the vast Chinese market. The repercussions could reverberate for decades," the organizers said in a release.
BH&L, led by veteran world expo pavilion designers Barry Howard and Leonard Levitan is lobbying hard to prevent a potential diplomatic blunder and has a viable design and plan in place for a US Pavilion at Shanghai. Private sector funding and leadership are being sought.
The Shanghai Expo's theme is "Better City, Better Life." It is our intention to demonstrate that the American ideal of social inclusiveness in combination with the application of innovative environmental and communication technologies in a free market economy is the foundation for sustainable communities that make possible the dreams and aspirations of human societies everywhere. To that end, our tools will include interactive and immersive systems, virtual and real-time activities, digital interface, live performance, and other experiential media," BH&L said.
In addition to the public presentations and programs accessible to all visitors, private sections of the Pavilion will facilitate the conduct of business and the VIP treatment of government officials, visiting dignitaries, corporate executives and their clients. We will staff the Pavilion with bilingual Chinese-American personnel and promote US products, services, and culture in all public and private spaces.
The US Pavilion will be a 501(c) 3 tax-exempt entity. The organizers claim to have plans in hand to secure US Congressional support and White House official designation at the US Official Pavilion. Private-sector funding and leadership are being sought. But time is running out for developing and ensuring an effective presence of USA in what is supposed to be the largest market opportunity for all countries.
(Source: PRWeb)
