Yang Jian/ Shanghai Daily news

The US$100 million in financial assistance set aside to help developing countries participate in the 2010 Shanghai World Expo will not be cut, despite the global financial crisis, a senior organizer for the event said yesterday.

All financial-aid promises will be kept, Zhou Hanmin, deputy director general of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, told a press conference in the city yesterday.

Countries defined by the United Nations as low or middle-income, with per-capita gross national income below US$3,255, are eligible for financial assistance to participate in the Expo.

None of the countries that have signed up so far are backing off their participation budgets, Zhou said.

In related news, the Shanghai World Expo site will be open 15 hours a day, from 9am to midnight, although exhibitions will be open only from 9:30am to 10:30pm, said Hong Hao, director general of the bureau. Visitors can reserve tickets one day ahead for the national pavilions, he added.

So far, 183 countries and 45 organizations have confirmed their participation in the event.

The organizers yesterday handed over construction sites to six countries that are building national pavilions for the 2010 event.

Delegations from Australia, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Spain signed agreements for the sites with the organizers in Shanghai.

Construction will begin on the national pavilions of these countries before the beginning of next month.

Also yesterday, delegations from major cities signed participation contracts with the organizers to take part in the Urban Best Practices Area.

These cities are Bologna and Venice, Italy Chengdu, Xi'an and Ningbo, China Dusseldorf, Germany Izmir, Turkey Liverpool, United Kingdom Makkah, Saudi Arabia and Odense, Denmark. Basel, Geneva and Zurich, Switzerland, will give a joint presentation in the best practices area.

So far, 33 UBPA participation contracts have been signed with the organizers. More than 10 have decided their exhibition plans, and construction has begun on two UBPA pavilions.

Fifty-nine exhibitions in this area will feature advanced technologies and innovative ideas that can help contribute to the Expo theme, "Better City, Better Life."