A prestigious Chinese-American businessman said Saturday that he is seeking authorization from the U.S. government to become the new organizer of the proposed U.S. pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo, which is scheduled to open on May 1, 2010.
"I have secured 100 million dollars in loans for investing in the U.S. pavilion project at the Shanghai World Expo, and already filed an application to the State Department for representing the United States at the event," James I.C. Chiang told Xinhua at his Los Angeles residence.
The 88-year-old oil industry executive, who had successful investment experiences at previous World Expos, said he expects to receive a positive response from the State Department in coming days as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is back to her office from the G20 summit in London.
According to Chiang, he is planning to meet Clinton next week in Washington to report on his investment plan, and is confident that he would finally get a presidential authorization to be the organizer of the U.S. pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo.
A private organizing team of the proposed U.S. pavilion has so far failed to raise enough money to start construction, and even drawn worries both in China and the United States that the world's largest economy could be absent from the six-month international exhibition.
The contract between the current organizer and the State Department expired on March 31 because of its failure to comply with the construction schedule, according to Chiang, who said it is time for the government to authorize a new organizer.
Under a U.S. law passed in 1993, public funds are not allowed to be used for events like the World Expo and the government could only authorize private organizers to represent the country at international exhibitions.
The U.S. has failed to attend World Expos in the past due to funding difficulties, including the 2000 Hanover World Expo in Germany. The U.S. pavilion at the 2005 World Expo in Aichi, Japan was partly funded by Toyota, a Japanese carmaker.
Although the world is undergoing the worst economic recession in decades, Chiang said he has promised a profit to his investors for the U.S. pavilion project, which will mainly target at Chinese visitors, who he said will account for about 95 percent of all the visitors at the Shanghai event.
(Xinhua News Agency April 5, 2009)
