The government is delaying the decision on Expo, which could complicate preparations

Prague - It has been more than a year since the Italian invitation to the World Expo 2015 was delivered, yet the Czech government has not yet decided on participation. If it eventually agrees, the current hesitation and then the shorter time to create the exhibition may complicate preparations for the country's costly marketing event. Everything indicates that a delay similar to that which occurred in 2007 before the World Expo in China may happen again. Czech authorities are incorrigible, thinks former Secretary General Pavel Stehlík, who was in charge of Expo 2010.
    "Usually, what usually happens takes place. It is already late now," Stehlík told ČTK. According to him, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has made a mistake again by closing the preparatory office at the turn of the year, even though it had tens of millions of crowns left in the account after the exhibition ended. So, everything will have to start over if the government eventually agrees to Czech participation, Stehlík said.
    A total of 81 countries have already registered for Expo 2015 in Milan. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will propose participation in Expo in Milan to the government. It intends to submit the material to the government along with the ministries of culture, agriculture, and industry. The material will outline the basic conditions for preparation and the budget framework. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs aims to find sources outside the state budget during the period of savings," said ČTK spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Vít Kolář.
    In the initial phase, according to him, the selection of a commissioner will be crucial, who should present the financing method and the concept. "The ministry wants the budget to be only partially guaranteed by the state and to allow the involvement of private funds," Kolář added.
    It is unclear when the government could discuss Expo 2015. There are three years remaining until the opening. Stehlík recalled that preparations for Expo 2010 began in January 2008. Two months earlier, he was appointed by the government. "It was extremely late. There was no office, no budget, nothing," noted Stehlík. Thus, the exhibition was created in a rush, but in the end, it was successful.
    Stehlík sees the main problem in that, unlike China, where the Czech Republic rented a pavilion and then completed it, in Italy, a new building will have to be constructed. According to him, this is much more complicated. "An architectural competition will thus have to be announced," he believes. "Then the unsuccessful candidates will appeal and it could drag on for a year or two, and that would already be a big disaster," he declared.
    If the Czech Republic participates in the exhibition in the northern Italian industrial metropolis, the country will spend a significant amount of money on state marketing. "Hats off to anyone who does it so that the money is not wasted," said Stehlík. The future exhibition in Milan will have the slogan "Feed the Planet, Energy for Life". The Italians sent an invitation to Prague last January.
    For the previous World Expo in Shanghai, the state allocated half a billion crowns, the Czech pavilion was successful, and the Chinese even bought it in the end. The Japanese Expo 2005 cost the Czechs 300 million crowns.