Shanghai Daily news

Shanghai's World Expo pavilion will be open half an hour earlier and half an hour later than the rest of the world's pavilions, organizers revealed at the second participants' meeting of the Expo in Shanghai yesterday.

The participants decide how long they will open their pavilions, said Chen Xianjin, a deputy director of the Bureau of the Shanghai World Expo Coordination Committee. And so Shanghai has elected to open its pavilion for 12 hours a day during the week and 13 hours at weekends and on holidays. The pavilion will stop selling admission tickets two hours before the closing time each day.

The organizers hope residents will visit the pavilion at night to keep it from being overcrowded during the day, Chen said.

In the evening at the pavilion visitors will not only be able to enjoy the mild breezes from the Hangpu River but also special entertainments right up to closing time, said Hu Jingjun, another deputy director of the Bureau.

Evening entertainments proved to be very popular at the Hanover Expo in 2000, said Hu. "Visitors can watch performances at the pavilions even after the gates have been shut."

To cope with the 70-million visitors during the Expo, the organizers are preparing a special reservation system.

After intending visitors have bought Expo tickets they can reserve passes for the more popular pavilions by telephone or through the Internet, said Chen. "We recommend that people use our reservation system to reduce queues and help the organization of the pavilions."

Disabled visitors will also be catered for. As well as easy access facilities throughout the pavilion there will be a special exhibition for the disabled.

At the end of the meeting, the organizers launched a new participants' services Website where countries and international organizations can discover what is happening and contact the organizers and service providers.

More than 400 officials and businessmen are attending the two-day meeting in the Four Points by Sheraton Youyou Hotel to get an update on preparations for the event.

"The meeting is one of the most exciting moments of the Expo preparations," said Vicente Loscertales, secretary general of BIE. "It is the outcome of years of hard work and paves the way for next year's progress."

Shanghai's Mayor Han Zheng and Wu Jianmin, president of the International Expositions Bureau, addressed the opening ceremony.