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SHANGHAI - The Government expects to spend up to $30 million on New Zealand's participation in the 2010 Expo in Shanghai, Trade Minister Phil Goff said at the still-barren site dominated by huge cranes in the Chinese megacity yesterday.
Mr Goff said Cabinet approval had been given for development work to begin and the costs were expected to be met by a combination of Government and private sector investments.
The estimated spend was twice that devoted to the 2005 Aichi Expo, necessary partly because projected visitor numbers were expected to be much higher, he said.
The Chinese Government expects 70 million visitors will visit the Expo over the six months it will run - more than 90 per cent of whom are expected to be from within China.
Mr Goff said as many as 14 million visitors were expected through the New Zealand pavilion.
Officials in Shanghai said yesterday 121 countries and four organisations had participated in the Aichi event and the aim was to raise the number to 200.
So far 93 countries or organisations have confirmed their participation.
The Chinese expect to spend $8 billion on the Expo, which is themed "Better City, Better Life" and will focus on how to maintain and improve quality of life in cities under huge pressure from expansion and rural migration.
The Shanghainese, living in a city undergoing one of the most rapid international expansions and where disparities between the haves and the have-nots are becoming increasingly problematic, want the Expo to present a "City of Harmony" concept.
About 60,000 city residents - 14,000 households - have been relocated from the 3.3 sq km waterfront site on both sides of the Huangpu River to make way for the Expo, which is believed to have caused friction.
Shanghai has more than 15 million people.
However, the Chinese Expo Commissioner-General, Ambassador Hua Jundou, told New Zealand reporters yesterday the process had gone smoothly and without discord.
Factories are also being cleared from the site on which development for the ambitious project has yet to fully begin.
The New Zealand Consul-General in Shanghai, Wen Chin Powles, has been appointed interim Commissioner-General for the Expo and will work with NZ Trade and Enterprise to develop the pavilion, for which a design is soon to be selected.
Mr Goff has spent the week in Shanghai with New Zealand's largest ever trade delegation and heads to Beijing today to discuss a proposed free trade agreement with China.
He said the decision to take part in the Expo was based on the importance of New Zealand's relationship with China and the success of participation in the Aichi Expo.
"Our goal will be to leverage the achievements and profile of New Zealand in what is one of the most dynamic and fastest evolving markets in the world," Mr Goff said.
* Ruth Berry travelled to Shanghai courtesy of Air New Zealand.
