China to host Expo 2010

Shanghai wins bid to host Expo 2010

China's commercial capital, Shanghai, has won its bid to host the International World's Fair and Exposition in 2010, which will generate millions of dollars of investment.

The BBC's Shanghai correspondent says crowds on the streets of the city are greeting the news with excitement.

The Expo 2010 is considered the world's third largest event after the Olympics and the World Cup.

The organisers of the exhibition which was first held in London in 1951 made the announcement after meeting in Monte Carlo.

Shanghai's rivals to host the 2010 Expo included the South Korean city of Yeosu, as well as Moscow and cities in Poland and Mexico.

The win is a culmination of a hard-driven marketing campaign, in which China won the support of multinational corporations from Europe and the United States, including Alcatel and Coca-Cola.

The Chinese city is now likely to undergo $1bn facelift to provide a site for the nations of the world to display their wares to a potential market of more than a billion people - and to showcase China's high-tech prowess.

Forced to move

Newly appointed Shanghai party boss and mayor Chen Liangyu laid out a plan this year pledging to invest up to $2.5bn in the site, with up to 10 times more expected to be spent on related infrastructure projects.

But residents living in the run-down industrial area of bleak factories and broken cranes on the banks of the Huangpu River - the planned location of the conference centre - will be forced out.

"We're all very happy to move out of this relatively derelict area," said one resident when told that the show may be held in his neighbourhood.

"The old place is more familiar and more comfortable but if the government is going to pay for new accommodation then that's not bad either," said another.

China has assured it will provide economic support and take measures to ensure security and other necessities for participants, especially developing countries, guaranteeing them a package of $100m in financial aid between them.

Officials predicted that more than 70 million people could visit the city for Expo and tourism would be expected to get a firm boost over last year's revenues of 95.6 billion yuan ($11.5bn).

"This event has grown considerably. In terms of image, exchanges and economic repercussions, the event has become, over the last few decades, a unique date and opportunity for the organising country," said president of the Paris-based International Exhibitions Bureau, Gilles Noghes.