More than 610,000 people, including 3,001 foreigners, signed up to be volunteers at the 2010 World Expo, an Expo official said Tuesday. A total of 70,943 people have been recruited to work inside the Expo site.

The majority of volunteers are Shanghai people aged between 16 and 35 and with higher education background, Xia Kejia, director of the Volunteer Department of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, told a press conference in Shanghai.

The foreigners are from 109 countries and regions.

Most of the foreign volunteers live in Shanghai and can speak Chinese. The organizer has also recruited some volunteers who served at the 2005 Aichi Expo in Japan and some from Milan in Italy, which will host the 2015 World Expo.

They will start training with the Chinese volunteers on Friday.

Volunteers who work inside the Expo site will be used as information consultants, assistant receptionists, aids for physically challenged people, event coordinators, assistant guides, interpreters, media coordinators and management assistants for volunteers.

Each volunteer will work about seven hours every day and for at least 14 days.

The Expo will have 2,553 volunteers serving visitors in the site on weekdays. The number will double during weekends, holidays and national celebrations, Xia said.

(Shanghai Daily January 20, 2010)