Five people applied for the competition for the head of the exhibition at Expo 2015

Prague - Five applicants who registered for the tender would like to create a vision and concept for the Czech participation at the World Expo 2015 in Milan. The Czech News Agency has learned that among the candidates for the chief commissioner are people who were involved in the Czech participation at Expo 2010 in Shanghai. These are the former chief commissioner Pavel Stehlík, the former director of the Czech pavilion, later assigned to manage the chief commissioner's office Miloslava Kumbárová, and the former spokesperson for the Czech participation Jiří Potužník. Their participation in the competition has been confirmed to the Czech News Agency.
     The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is evaluating and checking the documents it requested after Wednesday's deadline for the competition. "Given that some of them were incomplete, we had to ask the applicants for additional information. Therefore, it is not possible to say how many applicants will ultimately meet all the requirements," said the ministry spokesperson Vít Kolář to the Czech News Agency. According to him, the final number of candidates will be confirmed after evaluating the applications in terms of their completeness according to the requirements.
     The main theme of Expo 2015 is the slogan "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life." However, the Czech Republic has not yet confirmed its presence at the exhibition in Italy. Meanwhile, 93 other countries have already promised participation. In the Czech Republic, the entire procedure is delayed, which may complicate future preparations for the construction of the pavilion.
     Candidates for developing the concept for Italy had to submit a motivational letter and a written vision of the project. The ministry announced the competition based on the government's decision. However, the government has not yet explicitly stated, according to available information, that the Czech Republic will participate in the World Expo at all. The government is expected to decide on the winning conceptual proposal, financing details, and appoint the participation commissioner by October 31.
     The state presentation is estimated to cost around 350 million crowns, but this time 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 for the presentation. Unlike previous world exhibitions, the government wants to spend much less money and change the form and financing of state promotion.