Domestic preparations under way

Domestic provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities are working on designs for their exhibitions after completing theme presentations. This signals a great step forward in their preparations, a senior organizer said on Monday.

scene of the conference

So far, five provinces including Hainan and Hunan, have submitted exhibition plans and 24 domestic participants are applying to host forums, said Wang Jinzhen, a member of the National Organizing Committee of the Expo as well as vice chairman of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

Hunan hosted an Expo-themed forum focusing on environment protection and urban development in April, and Gansu and Heilongjiang will follow Hunan with forums this month.

To date, 29 domestic participants have submitted schemes for special week events and the Expo promotion has rolled into 21 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, Wang noted at a working conference attended by representatives from all domestic participants.

Zhou Hanmin, deputy director of the World Expo 2010 Shanghai Executive Committee, said domestic preparation is proceeding rapidly and many participants' themes embody their cultural features.

Zhong Yanqun, fulltime deputy director of the World Expo 2010 Shanghai Executive Committee, and Chen Xianjin, deputy director general of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, attended.