The significance of this announcement is that there's now a good chance the US will have a pavilion at Shanghai Expo 2010. -JR
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE - Office of the Spokesman
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For Immediate Release - April 17, 2008
Department of State Signs Letter of Intent for World Expo Shanghai 2010
The U.S. Department of State has signed a Letter of Intent to work with “Shanghai Expo 2010,” a non-profit group headed by Ellen Eliasoph, attorney with Washington law firm Covington & Burling, and Nick Winslow, leisure industry expert and theme park developer, to develop a U.S. Pavilion for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, China.
The Letter of Intent will allow the Eliasoph and Winslow group to further develop and implement its ideas for the project, and provides documentation the group can use when approaching private sector donors. The Department of State Action Plan requires that our non-profit partner (Shanghai Expo 2010) have all required funding in hand before the Department signs a Memorandum of Agreement for the project , and, in turn, a Participation Contract with the Chinese Expo organizers. The Participation Contract commits the United States to present a U.S. National Pavilion at the Expo.
Working with a private sector partner is essential because the Department of State is prohibited by federal law from spending appropriated funds to participate in expositions such as World Expo Shanghai 2010, which are registered by the Bureau of International Expositions.
For information on the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and its programs, visit http://exchanges.state.gov/.
