Great Britain to contribute to success of Shanghai Expo, says ambassador

BEIJING, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Great Britain's investment to the Shanghai Expo is "worthwhile", and it wanted to contribute to the success of the world's largest ever expo, said British Ambassador to China Sebastian Wood Wednesday.

It is "because our relationship is important, we have the expo link between the two countries -- the London Expo in 1851 and the Shanghai Expo in 2010, and we believe strongly in the theme of the expo 2010 -- Better City, Better Life," he said at a press conference.

According to Wood, the British pavilion, developed by a leading British designer, Thomas Heatherwick, is themed "Building on the past, shaping the future". It encourages visitors to look at the role of nature and wonder whether it could be used to solve the current social, economic and environmental challenges of cities.

There will also be some modern arts and dramas of William Shakespeare performed in the British pavilion.

Wood said the cost for buildings is about 15 million pounds (about 23.98 million U.S. dollars) and the cost for associated activities and running is around 10 million pounds.

He said the pavilion was "built in accordance with high international standard of sustainability", and the materials are as recyclable as possible.

"The pavilion would be a very powerful statement of the creativity and innovation in the UK. I encourage all the Chinese families to visit the British pavilion, which would demonstrate the vitality and creativity of the UK. They would have a wonderful time," Wood said.