Expo 2017

EXPO Astana 2017
Astana
Overview
BIE-class	Specialized exposition
Category	International Recognized Exhibition
Name	Expo 2017
Motto	Future's Energy
Area	113 hectares (280 acres)
Location
Country	Kazakhstan
City	Astana
Coordinates	35°10′34.2″N 137°5′26.5″E / 35.176167°N 137.090694°E / 35.176167; 137.090694
Timeline
Bidding	July 1, 2010 (2010-07-01)
Awarded	November 22, 2012 (2012-11-22)
Opening	June 10, 2017 (2017-06-10)
Closure	September 10, 2017 (2017-09-10)
Specialized editions
Previous	Expo 2012 in Yeosu
Universal expositions
Previous	Expo 2015 in Milan
Next	Expo 2020
Horticultural expositions
Previous	Expo 2016 in Antalya
Next	Expo 2019 in Beijing
Simultaneous
Horticultural (AIPH)	Internationale Gartenbauausstellung 2017
Internet
Website	Official site

Expo 2017 is an International Exposition scheduled to take place in 2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan.

On November 22, 2012 Astana was chosen by the International Exhibitions Bureau (BIE) as the venue to host EXPO-2017, which will focus on the theme "Future Energy".^[1] The theme is aimed to concentrate on both the future of energy, but also on innovative, but practical energy solutions, and their global impact. EXPO-2017 will be the first time that a major international exhibition of this kind is coming to a country from the former Soviet Union. More than 100 countries and 10 international organizations are expected to participate. Around 2-3 million people are expected to visit the international pavilions from June to September 2017.^[2]

25 hectares is planned for the pavilions of Expo 2017. The site has a convenient access to Astana’s city center, the international airport and the railway station. The Expo Site is also linked with a network of Kazakhstan’s inter-city roads to ensure a quick access from all the country.^[2] Construction of the pavilions will begin April 2014 with 20 companies from Kazakhstan and 49 companies from around the globe.^[3] Currently, designs are being considered for the grounds of Expo 2017 from architects in the UK, USA, Germany, Austria, Netherlands and China.^[4]

Astana will be submitting their registration bid to the BIE in December 2013.^[5]

Bid history

On 1 July 2010. during the 147th session of the General Assembly of member countries of the BIE, held at their headquarters in Paris, Kazakhstan announced its intention to participate in the bidding process to host the International Specialized Exhibition at Astana in 2017, hence giving cities with counter-bids six months to respond. Only one other candidate city applied:^[6] Liège in Belgium. The winning candidate was selected by the BIE on 22 November 2012 in Paris.

Candidate cities

The following cities bid to host Expo 2017:

City	Country	Theme
Astana[7]	Kazakhstan	Future Energy[8]
Liège[9]	Belgium	Connecting the World, Linking People, Better Living Together[10]

Cities that did not actually bid

The following cities had considered bidding to host Expo 2017:

City	Country
Newcastle, New South Wales[11]	Australia
Edmonton	Canada
Belgrade	Serbia
Lille	France
Stavanger	Norway
Sydney	Australia
Salamanca	Spain

Astana city candidacy

The city of Astana, the UNESCO Cities for peace award-winning ^[12] capital of Kazakhstan, has applied to host the International Exposition in 2017 on June 10, 2011 through Rapil Jochibayev, head of project coordination. The official presentation of the city’s application took place during the 149th General Meeting of the Bureau of International Expositions.

A year later, on June 10, 2012, the country launched its official promotional campaign to support the candidacy of Astana.

Suggested topic for the International Exhibition

The city of Astana suggested Future Energy. Action for global sustainability ^[13] as the exhibition’s main topic. During the symposium on Astana’s candidacy, the BIE Secretary General, Vincente Gonzales Loscertales, has declared  :

Energy is one of RIO+20’s seven critical issues and the topic of Astana Expo gives the opportunity to gather several suggestions. Five years after Rio+20, Astana could represent an ideal step towards the assessment in 2012 of some of the commitments that were made…

Promotions

As an element of the campaign held to support the candidacy of Astana, the committee shot the film Astana Expo 2017 "The Great Expectation of Kazakhstan". The video was awarded the Silver Dolphin prize^[14] of the Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards on October, in the « coporate videos » category.

On June 15, 2013, the French government and solar energy partners in France teamed up with the Expo 2017 organizing committee to sponsor The Sun Trip. 35 bikers from around Europe, North America, and Kazakhstan traveled on solar powered bicycles from the outskirts of Paris to Astana in two months to show the world that solar energy is viable source of power.^[15]

City of Liege candidacy

The city of Liège, the beating heart of Belgium’s third largest conurbation (600,000 inhabitants), is the economic Capital of Wallonia.

Over the past ten years, it has rolled out an ambitious redevelopment strategy. Step by step, the City and the conurbation are undergoing a make-over with the aim of spawning a service economy focusing on centres of excellence.

The policy of ambitious structuring projects, orchestrated by the public authorities and supported by businesses, universities and institutes, is giving the Liege region a new lease of life. While awaiting the arrival of the tram, a scheme initiated by the Walloon Government, several major projects are underway: the Royal Opera of Wallonia, an institution with an international reputation, is being restored; the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art will be transformed into an International Centre of Art and Culture. Not forgetting the recent inaugurations of the new high-speed train station created by the architect Santiago Calatrava, the ‘Mediacité’ leisure complex designed by Ron Aarad, the Grand Curtius museum complex, etc.

The impacts of this strategy are there for all to see : year after year, the City of Liege attracts new inhabitants; it has reclaimed its position as Wallonia’s main tourist destination; Liege airport ranks eighth in Europe for freight transport (1st in Belgium), the autonomous port of Liege is the biggest Belgian inland port and the 3rd European port in terms of transported tonnage and, what’s more, according to an independent study by Cushman and Wakefield, the district of Liege is considered as the most attractive region in Europe in logistical terms.

The district is also the seat of world-renowned companies, such as AB InBev, Mittal, Umicore, FN Herstal, Techspace Aero, EVS Broadcast, Amos or Eurogentec… Most of them have prompted the emergence of competence clusters in areas in which Liege excels: aeronautics, the metalworking industry and mechanics, space, biotechnologies, information technologies, or again, agrifood.

Today, the City wants to build on this positive momentum to organise an event with an international scope that will constitute the crowning achievement of the economic and urban reconversion strategy of the Liege Region.

An Expo perfectly meets this objective.

To conclude, holding an International Expo in Liege in 2017 offers an exceptional opportunity to:

→ showcase Belgium’s strengths and success stories in the economic, scientific and cultural arenas;

→ put Belgium, its Regions and Communities on the world map for all the right reasons;

→ symbolise the success of the industrial and urban reconversion of the Liege Region.

Expo 2017 in North America

In North America, at least four cities and/or organizations within Canada proposed staging an international exposition in 2017 to coincide with the Canada's 150th anniversary of confederation, or sesquicentennial. Due to Canada's previous experiences with Expo 67 and Expo 86, as well as the fact North America has not staged an expo since 1986, it was generally believed among promoters that Canada would stand a good chance of winning an expo in 2017^{[citation needed]}.

The earliest concerted initiative—for an expo to be staged in Montreal—was launched by Vancouver based NGO Expo 17 Inc, which released a 51-page proposal tailored to Montreal's existing Vision 2025 report put together by the Société du Havre.^[16] The Expo 17 proposal (and web site) strongly advocated Canadian unity and social/environmental sustainability. Specifics of the proposal include "saving the Saint Lawrence River" as well as revisiting the Habitat 67 housing concept originally featured as a prototype for Expo 67. Most notably, the proposal suggests staging up to three smaller expos (recognized, horticultural and housing expos) to achieve maximum impact and attendance. The proposal and web site were publicly launched in 2007 on the 40th anniversary of Expo 67. The Expo 17 group, after publicly announcing its withdrawal from Montreal,^[17] committed itself to promoting alternative sesquicentennial events, particularly of pronounced social and environmental value.

The cities of Ottawa^[18] and Hamilton, Ontario^[19] both explored the possibility of an expo in 2017, but declined to officially submit a proposal to the Department of Canadian Heritage.

In the spring of 2009, the Department of Canadian Heritage, informed cities in Canada that any interest in staging an Expo in 2017 would have to be expressed with a Letter of Intent before May 29, 2009^[20] followed by a full proposal no later than November 30, 2009. Ottawa, Hamilton and Montreal declined while Edmonton, with a bid proposal already prepared, decided to push forward. Albertan rival - Calgary also submitted a letter of intent in late May just before the filing deadline,^[21] surprising the Edmonton bid committee and igniting intra-provincial tensions. Calgary's subsequently decided not to proceed with a full proposal, deciding instead to invest in alternative ways to improve their city.^[22] Being the only remaining candidate, Edmonton was granted the sole Canadian right to bid for Expo 2017 internationally.

Edmonton Bid

A high level feasibility study was first conducted for "Edmonton Expo 2017" in 2007 but the proposal moved further towards serious consideration after city representatives visited Expo 2008 (a recognized expo) in Zaragoza, Spain. On October 29, 2008, Edmonton City Council approved pursuing this next step on the condition of Government of Alberta support and cost-sharing.^[23] Themes originally suggested for Edmonton such as "A New Silk Road: Trade and Commerce", championed by MLA Gary Mar and city councillor Mike Nickel,^[24] indicating a commercial approach, but the proposed expo later decided to shift the focus to energy and environmental concerns, with the theme "Harmony of Energy and Our Future Planet".

The bid organizers estimated costs to total $2.3 billion to be funded by municipal, provincial and federal governments as well as private sector sponsorship. News broke on November 22, 2010 that the federal government had declined to approve funds for the Expo - estimated at $706 million, stating that the project was far too expensive and financially risky. Edmonton's mayor Stephen Mandel was shocked and said "I've never been as mad at anything and just so disappointed in the lack of vision of a government… This decision is frankly wrong and extremely short-sighted".^[25][26] The lack of federal funding effectively ended Edmonton's bid for Expo 2017.

See also

• Expo 17
• Edmonton EXPO 2017

External links

• Expo 2017 Astana-Kazakhstan
• Expo 2017 Astana
• Expo 2017 page at ExpoMuseum.com
• Film Astana Expo 2017 « The Great Expectation of Kazakhstan »
• Liège 2017
• ExpoBids.com
• Expo 17 (Canada)
• Expo 2017 (Canada)
• Edmonton Expo 2017
• Société du Havre de Montréal (Canada)

References

v t e List of world expositions Retrospectively recognized expositions London 1851 Paris 1855 London 1862 Paris 1867 Vienna 1873 Philadelphia 1876 Paris 1878 Melbourne 1880 Barcelona 1888 Paris 1889 Chicago 1893 Brussels 1897 Paris 1900 St. Louis 1904 Liège 1905 Milan 1906 Brussels 1910 Turin 1911 Ghent 1913 San Francisco 1915 Barcelona & Seville 1929 Chicago 1933 BIE recognized Universal Expositions Brussels 1935 Paris 1937 New York 1939 Port-au-Prince 1949 Brussels 1958 Seattle 1962 Montreal 1967 Osaka 1970 Seville 1992 Hannover 2000 Shanghai 2010 Milan 2015 Dubai 2020 BIE recognized Specialized Expositions Stockholm 1936 Helsinki 1938 Liège 1939 París 1947 Stockholm 1949 Lyon 1949 Lille 1951 Jerusalem 1953 Rome 1953 Naples 1954 Turín 1955 Helsingborg 1955 Beit Dagan 1956 Berlín 1957 Turín 1961 Munich 1965 San Antonio 1968 Budapest 1971 Spokane 1974 Okinawa 1975 Plovdiv 1981 Knoxville 1982 New Orleans 1984 Plovdiv 1985 Tsukuba 1985 Vancouver 1986 Brisbane 1988 Plovdiv 1991 Genoa 1992 Taejŏn 1993 Lisbon 1998 Nagoya 2005 Zaragoza 2008 Yeosu 2012 Astana 2017 BIE recognized horticultural exhibitions (AIPH) Rotterdam 1960 Hamburg 1963 Vienna 1964 Paris 1969 Amsterdam 1972 Hamburg 1973 Vienna 1974 Montreal 1980 Amsterdam 1982 Munich 1983 Liverpool 1984 Osaka 1990 Zoetermeer 1992 Stuttgart 1993 Kunming 1999 Haarlemmermeer 2002 Rostock 2003 Chiang Mai 2006/7 Venlo 2012 Antalya 2016 Berlin 2017 Beijing 2019 Almere 2022 Canceled Lyon 1914 Rome 1942 Vienna & Budapest 1995 Metro Manila 2002 Seine Saint Denis 2004 Not BIE recognized Sydney International Exhibition World's Industrial and Cotton Exposition (1884) Pan-American Exposition Irish International Exhibition Jamestown Exposition Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition Panama–California Exposition Independence Centenary International Exposition (1922) 1964 New York World's Fair 2006 Shenyang