60 People, 60 Stories

Full confidence ahead

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-30 10:54

I have no doubt about the success of Shanghai's World Exposition. I have no doubt about the importance of the more than 70 million visitors and importance of this World Exposition. But I want to underline two challenges. The first challenge is we must not miss the theme of the Expo, "Better City, Better Life". For almost all the countries of the world, it is not only relevant, it is, I would go so far to say, urgent.

In China, almost 60 percent of the population still lives in rural areas and within 20 to 25 years, the majority of the Chinese population will have migrated to the urban areas. Cities and in particular, metropolises - are the source of numerous problems: Health, pollution, waste disposal, heavy congestion and also sometimes, solitude for the citizens.

The second challenge for the exhibition is the international community. There is mobilization all over China, but we expect the Bureau of International Expositions to be even more, to be an international event on "Better City, Better Life". We expect this exhibition to introduce a dialogue on the different problems encountered by different countries, continents, cultures and intermanagement of the cities. This respect and honest progress still has to be met.

We are opening an Urban Best Practices Area, which is a remarkable initiative. But we have noticed that there is some lack of participation from Africa, South Asia, South America in this zone, and it is in this situation that the problem of the cities are the most urgent. Within this framework, France must be allowed to initiate and develop the dialogue by participants by urban scientists, sociologists and mayors of large cities throughout the world.

I am sure the Exposition will be a success, but we can have more, we can have a new departure about the perfection on management of the cities of the world at the beginning of the 21st century.

Jean-Pierre Lafon is president of the Bureau of International Expositions.