Society 363 / 2013

kasachstan
expo 2017
held in Canada in 1967 cost 283 million Canadian
dollars (178 million euro), but also resulted in international
tourism growth of 480 mil lion Canadian
dollars (303 million euro) in the same year.
Fotos: Embassy of Kazakhstan in Vienna
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Kazakhstan Fund
Back in Paris, as soon as Astana was chosen as
the EXPO 2017 host city, Mr. Kairat Kelimbetov, the
Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, spoke at a
press conference where he announced the establishment
of the Kazakhstan EXPO 2017 Fund to support
energy research. The Fund, comprising more
than 62 million euro, will be used to fund scientific
research projects to develop renewable sources of
energy in more than 69 developing nations.
The financial benefits of holding the EXPO are
felt not only by the host city and country, but also
by nations choosing to put up their own exhibits
at the main event. The case of a 10-fold profit was
recorded with the Netherlands through its exhibition
pavilion at EXPO 2010 in Hannover, Germany.
After investing up to 35 million euro on their pavilion,
the Dutch economy received 350 million
euro of investments. However, this is not always
the case, as Germany learned from hosting EXPO
2000 at a loss of 1.2 billion euro. Instead of the expected
40 million people, the exhibition was visited
by only 18 million. The losses recorded by EXPO
2000 became one of the reasons why France (the
organizer of the next show) refused to hold EXPO
2004 in Seine-Saint-Denis.
It should also be kept in mind that hosting the
EXPO is not only about receiving direct economic
gain, but also other additional benefits. An EXPO
Bajterek-Tower in Astana
Info
EXPO 2017
expo 2017
Official webpage of EXPO
in Astana
www.expo2017astana.com
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New Sights
Astana will gain new architectural attractions
as a result of hosting the EXPO. As a reminder, the
world-famous Crystal Palace in London's Hyde Park
was built for the exhibition in 1851, while the Eiffel
Tow er, the symbol of France, was designed by
French engineer Gustave Eiffel especially for the
Paris EXPO 1889. Astana, for its part, will also unveil
new architectural marvels in time for EXPO 2017.
World renowned architects, including Kisho
Kurokawa and Norman Foster, have designed numerous
buildings and structures in Astana, which
became Kazakhstan’s capital only in 1997 (before
that, the capital was Almaty), expanding almost
three times in size from an area of 258 to 710.2
square kilometers. Kazakhstan is expecting to attract
significant amounts of private investment
into the construction of new exhibition facilities
and the necessary infrastruc ture. The holding
of EXPO 2017 is viewed as the next evolutionary
stage in the city’s development.
Land for the construction of the fu ture EXPO
Center has already been selec ted. The total area
for the venue will comprise 113 hectares, of which
25 hectares will be allocated for the Center, and
the rest for parking, outdoor construction, and
the EXPO 2017 Village. Among other things, the
architectural objects being built for EXPO will
allow Kazakhstan and Astana in particular to become
a major internati onal exhibition and information
presentation platform in the future. It is
worth noting that the Kazakhstan Government
intends to further develop its processing industries
and has adopted a po licy of rapid industrialization.
The positive results yielded by these
State measures will introduce new industries and
lead to energy consumpti on growth. Kazakhstan’s
significant reserves of coal (3.6 percent of world
reserves) play a role in determining the country’s
energy balance.
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Outlook for the future
Kazakhstan builds its energy po licies around
the notion that by 2030 the share of renewable
energy sources (RES) will increase to 11 percent
in the structure of the generating capacity of the
country. Kazakh authorities hope that with the
development of renewable energy in the world,
these technologies will become cheaper. It is symbolic
that the EXPO 2017 venue in Astana will be
powered exclusively by renewable energy sources,
effectively making Kazakhs tan’s capital a city of
the future. EXPO 2017 in Astana will showcase
world alternative energy de velopments and expand
the horizons of renewable energy in Kazakhstan
and abroad.
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