"The timing was good. We were able to capitalize on that by putting on an exhibition, which obviously had a focus on Asia," he added.

Reid said there has always been a tendency to look on expos in the number of countries that participate, the attendance and finally, whether it made a profit. The Vancouver expo was reported to have lost just over 300 million Canadian dollars (about 300 million U.S. dollars).

"I don't really know of any world expo that made a profit. On the face of it, there's overhead that has to be paid just to set the thing up. What you are doing is building a city within a city for a six-month run," he argued.

"Yes, the deficit was 300 million dollars (in Vancouver), but I think it can be right readily found with the benefits that came from it, particularly with the development that took place, and the amount of good publicity ... internationally as well as at home. You got to pay for the propaganda value of the whole thing," he added.

From his extensive experience at world expos in Canada, America, Italy and Japan, Reid said he was certain Shanghai would be a great success, but cautioned it shouldn't be compared to staging an Olympic Games. Such events were a "sprint," while an expo is a six-month "marathon."

"Olympics tend to be a television experience for people outside the actual event itself, whereas the exhibition is a much more intimate thing. You go there to interact with foreigners and their pavilions and it's personal. It requires a certain amount of exchange to keep that going for the length of time involved," he explained.

He advised that it was important for host cities to take care of its customers both inside and outside the venues, and that foreign countries are the key to the success of the exhibition.

"Because they have their own quirks or whims, the host nation, city, has to be very sensitive to what their requirements are in the physical sense," he stressed.

During the 1970 expo in Osaka, Japan, a diplomatic row ensued over chilled water. "It was vital to have chilled water in the pavilions to have air-conditioning because it was terribly hot in the summertime, as it will be in Shanghai," Reid recalled. "The local authorities, not really thinking it out too well, were charging an exorbitant amount of money for chilled water and it caused an enormous row."

"The success of Shanghai will depend, to a great extent, on how well the foreigners perform and how they perform depends to some extent, anyway, on how they are treated by the host organization," he asserted.

Source: Xinhua

Editor: Feng Hui