Shanghai Daily news

While the eyes of the world will be on Shanghai in 2010, much attention will be on Spain for another expo later this year.

Spain's Expo Zaragoza might not quite be the headline-grabber that the Beijing Olympics are certain to be later this year, but it still shapes up as one of the premier events on the international calendar in 2008. And the Spaniards would like nothing more than the world to make an appearance when the show begins.

"From June 14 to September 14 this year, let's have a date with Zaragoza," Jeronimo Blasco, vice president of Expo Zaragoza, said at press conference last week as he introduced the 93-day world festival of culture and technology to the people of Shanghai.

Though a "specialized" Expo much smaller in scale and shorter in duration than the 2010 World Expo Shanghai, the Zaragoza event is sure to capture attention.

Expo Zaragoza will focus on a theme of "Water and Sustainable Development," featuring presentations from 102 countries, two international organizations, seven corporations and 18 Spanish regions.

Water was chosen as the theme because it is a crucial issue in the 21st century, Blasco said.

Three themed exhibitions will be showcased in unique locations at Zaragoza - the Bridge Pavilion (water, a unique resource), Water Tower (water for life) and River Aquarium (waterscapes).

Blasco said a special feature of the Spanish Expo was the use of water both inside and outside the pavilions by landscape designers for visitors to experience.

Not only does a river run across the 25-hectare Expo site, people can also visit a 150-hectare water park and meander through riverside forests and botanic gardens.

A one-day ticket will cost 35 euros (US$52) while a three-day pass will be 70 euros. Early bookings mean a 12-percent discount.

So far, more than 2.5 million tickets have been sold, according to Blasco. Organizers expect seven to nine million visitors during the three-month event.

Expo Zaragoza will be open for 17 hours each day - from 10am to 3am - giving visitors the chance to see night shows and avoid the sizzling Spanish summer heat.

More than 3,400 performances will take place. The night show is called "Iceberg, Visual Poetic Symphony," which could be very appropriate in the summer evenings.

Parades every day

Circque du Soleil, the famous Canadian troupe, will provide day-time parades while organizers said Spain's classical event - bull-fighting - might also be seen during the Expo.

The city hopes for plenty of Chinese tourists although the number of Chinese people visiting Spain comprises just a small proportion of the total traveling in European countries.

Zaragoza organizers said they were helping to create special travel packages through tourism agencies and authorities for local people.

"Winning the right to hosting Expo changed Zaragoza," Blasco said of the city with a population of 660,000 people and a 2,000-year-old history.

"For Expo, we constructed new high-speed trains and an airport. The government invested in these projects and now there are more than 300 construction sites across the city," Blasco said.

The total budget for Expo Zaragoza is 700 million euros and the organizers are hoping for a small profit. But Expo is not about making money, said Blasco.

As early as 2006, the mayor of Zaragoza, Juan Alberto Belloch Julbe, told Shanghai during an Expo forum exactly that.

"A more important significance lies in the opportunity that the Expo offers the city and the changes that are likely to happen after the event," he said.

"One of the basic ideas behind the Expo is that everything connected with it should have a bright future. The infrastructures will probably last for 20 years, which will help the citizens recognize and understand the fundamental changes in the world."

After the Expo closes in September, the pavilions at the Expo site will be converted into a 160,000-square-meter business park.

Lessons for Shanghai

Shanghai Expo organizers are eager to learn from Zaragoza.

"They have some very practical ideas," said Xu Bo, director of the International Participation Department of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, who visited Zaragoza last year.

"For example, their logistics management is well considered. The storage pavilion is underground, which makes it easy for participants to fetch exhibits and avoid traffic in the Expo site."

Shanghai Expo organizers will send delegations of Expo workers and volunteers to Zaragoza to learn more. They will attend training courses or do internship jobs.