Spotlight: Expo Milano 2015 ends with a harvest

The nutrition-themed Expo Milano 2015 officially came to an end here on Saturday with a harvest that local and international authorities called very rich in terms of participant countries, visitors liking and variety of initiatives.

The six-month event has promoted quality and balance as the key elements of a sustainable development able to save the entire planet, said Italian President Sergio Mattarella before declaring the Expo Milano 2015 closed at a ceremony held at the open theater of the Expo site.

The Milan world exposition was dedicated to sustainable nutrition and food security under the theme "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life." "The right to food and water is closely linked to the idea of peace, social justice, scientific progress, legality, environmental culture and protection of biodiversity," Mattarella highlighted.

According to official figures, the Milan Expo attracted more than 21 million visitors, above the 20-million goal originally set by organizers, including a total of two million students involved in educational programs. Around one third of visitors, or some seven million, were foreigners. Entrances significantly increased during the summer, and peaks were registered in September and October. With 272,785 visitors, Oct. 10 marked the highest one-day total since the Expo opened.

Six chorus from different parts of Italy composed of around 1,000 adults and children, as well as colored fireworks saluted the end of the Expo Milano 2015 during the closing ceremony, which was attended by local and international authorities besides to the Expo workers and volunteers.

A survey conduced by Italy's largest farming association Coldiretti said Italians spent 2.3 billion euros (2.5 billion U.S. dollars) in expenses including traveling, accommodation, tickets and food at the Milan event, which 88 percent of them said was a positive experience.

More than 140 countries and organizations including the United Nations (UN) had a presence in the one-million-square-meter exhibition area northwest of Milan, which featured a record number of 54 self-built pavilions.

Among the most innovative projects introduced by Expo Milano 2015 were "clusters," or shared exhibition areas grouping over 70 countries devoid of self-built pavilions around themes that characterized specific regions such as the Bio-Mediterranean, islands and arid areas. For the first time in the history of world expositions, the African continent was represented by as many as 39 countries.

The "Expo by night", with the Expo site opened until 11 p.m. local time every day to ensure visitors could experience all the cultural and dining offerings, and the "Expo in citta" (Expo in the City) program, involving the entire city with thousands of initiatives for all citizens, were also among the novelties introduced by the Italian exposition.

In an exclusive interview conducted with Xinhua earlier this week, Vicente Loscertales, secretary-general of the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE), the organization in charge of overseeing world expos, defined the Italian exposition as "a huge success" able to create a network of countries and organizations which will cooperate actively in the future.

In particular, the Chinese participation, with a self-built national pavilion and two corporate pavilions, was "brilliant," Loscertales told Xinhua. "I think that the Chinese presence in the Expo has been one of the best... it is the first time that I see a country having such an important and active participation in an expo," he highlighted.

The world exhibition was visited by 60 heads of state and government, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Premier David Cameron and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, as well as by a number of international celebrities.

On Oct. 16, the UN World Food Day, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited the Expo site where he was given the Milan Charter, a document of commitment which involves individuals and countries in pursuing the universal right to healthy and sustainable nutrition, considered as the legacy of Expo Milano 2015 and signed by 1.1 million institutions, governments and citizens.

During Saturday's closing ceremony, the BIE flag was handed over to Astana, capital of Kazakhstan, which in 2017 will play host to the international exposition focused on "Future Energy," and to Dubai, where the next world exposition will take place in 2020 under the theme "Connecting Minds, Creating the Future." Endit