Mr. LOSCERTALES, Vicente Gonzalez Secretary General, Bureau International des Expositions (BIE)

In the 73 years of the history of the International Exhibition Bureau (BIE), 23 world expositions have been organised under its aegis and have attracted more that 500 million visitors.

As the repository of the experience of all these expositions, the BIE is well aware of the need to organise and co-ordinate the exhibitions' industry in order to benefit from the positive impact of the World Expositions.

A World Exposition is, with the efforts of the national companies and in co-operation with foreign companies, an international co-operation program. It constitutes the way to face the challenges of the exposition itself and the new demand created after the exposition.

The BIE has witnessed the powerful impact of the World Expositions on the exhibitions' industry all over the world. Many important new ventures and partnerships have been developed to achieve the goal of a prosperous economy sector through an efficient exhibitions' industry.

For these reasons, the BIE welcomes the initiative of the CCPIT to create this platform for dialog, to examine ways of co-operation with each other and to develop the exhibitions' industry in China. This is an excellent way to prepare the future and this match with the crucial need to take full advantage of EXPO 2010 Shanghai China.