In Brno today, the Building Fair Brno 2006 begins

Brno - More than 1200 exhibitors from 25 countries around the world will present themselves at the Brno Building Fairs 2006, which begin today in the South Moravian metropolis. Among the fairs is the 12th edition of the International Building Fair, the largest of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe. Organizers expect that this year, up to 100,000 visitors will come to the Brno exhibition center for the building fairs. The events will last until April 29.
Also included will be a fair for building technical equipment or lighting technology. The first independent fair of investments, finance, real estate, and technologies for cities and municipalities, Urbis Invest, will take place, which until last year was held as part of the fairs.
The fair is accompanied by a number of other events. For example, today’s conference "Two Years in the EU" will be attended by Finance Minister Bohuslav Sobotka. Ministers for local development from the Visegrád Four countries will meet in a working session.
Visitors will also see practical demonstrations of flood prevention measures. Main topics will include the protection of family houses with garages and mooring boats during floods.
The building fairs will be open to visitors from 9 AM to 6 PM. Visitors whose surnames are related to construction trades will have free entry all the time. Bearers of the name Stavěl, Zedník, and similar will save either 120 crowns for a full-day ticket or a half amount for a discounted ticket.