EXPO-2017 will cost Kazakhstan $1.5 billion

Hosting EXPO-2017 will cost Kazakhstan $1.5 billion, Tengrinews.kz reports. "Our exhibition that we are planning to host in 2017 is already present in the construction plans of Astana. The costs are extimated at $1.5 billion. It does not mean that the money will be allocated from the budget. There are special schemes that work under the International Exhibition Bureau and its investment projects," executive secretary of Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry Rapil Zhoshybayev said during the round-table meeting on March 12 in Astana. The executive secretary said that the state does not expert high profit from holding the exhibition in the country. "We have reviewed the costs for holding different exhibitions. There is not much financial profit from this project. It is almost equal to the costs. The state will recover the money spent for holding this exhibition from advertising and selling the spots in the pavillions. But in other sectors, like political, economic, social, touristic, this exhibition is very important. This is a big image project for Kazakhstan and for multi-party relations. This is also a big step for development of science and new technologies," Zhoshybayev said. According to the Secretary General of the International Exhibition Bureau Vincent Gonzales Loscertales, Kazakhstan has huge advantages in the rally for hosting EXPO-2017. "We have never received any applications from Central Asian region. We held the exhibitions mainly in North-East Asia, Europe and North America. This is the first time that we have received a bid from Central Asian region. We think that this can be considered Kazakhstan's advantage," he noted. According to the chairman of the expert commission Steen Christensen, the report of the expert commission will be presented at the meeting of the General Assembly of the International Exhibition Bureau this June. "Should it be approved and the recommendations of the executive commissions are accepted, the report on Kazakhstan project will be taken to voting of the General Assembly in June. Should the report be accepted and the recommendations be positive, the contest between Belgium and Kazakhstan will be held in the end of October or beginning of November. Before that there will be no official visits of the expert commission to Kazakhstan, as the expert commission may visit the country only once. We are visiting Belgium 14 days after the trip to Kazakhstan," Christensen added. The members of the expert commission also met with Kazakhstan Prime-Minister. Karim Massimov assured the delegates of the intention of Astana to host such an important world-scale event. Kazakhstan suggested the name of EXPO-2017 to be Developing the Energy of the Future: New Types of Energy. EXPO-2017 will become a platform for demontration of the latest scientific achievements in alternative energy and renewable energy sources. The exhibition will last around 3 months, from June 10 to September 10, 2017. It is planned to gather over 5 million visitors in Astana.