Diplomacy is seeking a creator for the concept of participation in Expo 2015 in Italy

Prague - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is seeking a person through a selection process who will develop their vision and concept for possible Czech participation in Expo 2015 in Milan, Italy. Applicants for the position of General Commissioner of the Czech Pavilion can apply until August 15, the Czech diplomacy stated in response to a query from ČTK.
     The main theme of Expo 2015 is the slogan "Feed the Planet, Energy for Life." However, the Czech Republic has not yet confirmed its presence at the exhibition in Italy, according to the official pages of the organizers. Participation has already been confirmed by 93 other countries.
        There is a delay in the whole procedure in the Czech Republic, which may complicate future preparations for the construction of the pavilion. Recently, the former commissioner of the Czech Pavilion at Expo 2010 in Shanghai, Pavel Stehlík, criticized the delay based on his experiences.
        Candidates for developing the concept for Italy will need to submit a motivational letter and a written vision of the project. They must be of good character, language-proficient, and possess management, organizational, and communication skills, according to the requirements for the General Commissioner. Interested parties were supposed to register preliminarily and pick up documents by August 3, but due to holidays, the ministry is not insisting on this date, said spokesperson Vít Kolář.
        The ministry initiated the selection process based on a government decision. However, according to available information, the government has not explicitly stated that the Czech Republic will participate in the world's exhibition at all. The government should decide by October 31 on the winning conceptual proposal, details of financing, and appoint a commissioner for participation.
        The state presentation is estimated to cost 350 million crowns, and the cabinet wants companies interested in participating in the exhibition in the industrial center of northern Italy to bear part of the costs. The ministry proposes to allocate 171 million crowns from public funds to the presentation.
        Unlike previous world exhibitions, the cabinet wants to allocate much less money and change the format and financing of state promotion. For participation in Expo 2010 in Shanghai two years ago, the state paid half a billion crowns, Expo 2005 in Japan cost 300 million from the state budget.
According to diplomacy, this time the government should allocate 100 million crowns for the state marketing event from the state budget, with an additional 71 million coming from state funds that have been saved or earned from the budget of the previous exhibition in China.