By IANS
New Delhi : The Cabinet Thursday approved funds for India’s participation in the prestigious Expo World Exhibition, a global trade fair to be held in Shanghai in 2010.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs at its meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cleared expenses for supporting the Indian Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) for the next three years for organising India’s participation in the Shanghai exhibition, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters here.
The ITPO will be working under the Market Access Initiative (MAI) scheme, the minister said.
“It is expected that India’s participation in Expo 2010, Shanghai, China would provide a forum to project the progress made by India in a variety of fields such as rural development, education, telecommunication, science and technology,” Chidambaram said.
India’s participation at the Expo 2010 will showcase the country’s “technological advance and contribution to synthesise nature and technology for the benefit of mankind,” the minister added.
Expo 2010 is expected to be a grand international trade fair with the theme “Better City, Better Life,” which will underline Shanghai’s new status as a major economic and cultural centre of the 21st century.
The fair, tentatively scheduled from May 1 to October 31, 2010, is likely to attract the largest number of visitors in the history of the world’s fairs.
World Expos are held once in five years in different cities with specific themes.