The U.S. delegation headed by Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs William Todd visited the EXPO 2017 construction site in Astana. The delegation members saw pavilions and met with the chairman of Astana Expo 2017. Akhmetzhan Yessimov told the visitors about the preparation process mentioning 115 countries and 18 international organizations who have confirmed their participation. The list has been recently replenished with Uzbekistan. Commissioner of the international exposition Rapil Zhoshybayev and Commissioner of Uzbekistan national section Ibrokhim Ergashev signed the participation agreement in Tashkent. The draft project of Uzbekistan’s 625-square meter pavilion and its design has been already approved. Solar power station is being constructed near Samarkand, as well as a number of small hydropower stations. The parties have also agreed to facilitate tourism to such ancient cities as Bukhara, Khiva and Samarkand. The meeting was also held with Uzbek Minister of Foreign Economic Relations, Investments and Trade Elyor Ganiev. The meeting participants have noted that Uzbekistan has interesting green energy exhibits.

RAPIL ZHOSHYBAYEV, COMMISSIONER, INTERNATIONAL SPECIALIZED EXHIBITION EXPO-2017:

We introduced a visa-free entry for a number of countries such as the OECD countries, the countries of Southeast Asia and, of course, the Arab region. Therefore, we are implementing a large-scale program to attract tourists to Kazakhstan. I think this will work and we will see the results during our exhibitions.

The international exhibition EXPO 2017 will be held in Astana between June 10 and September 10, 2017. It is expected to attract over 5 million tourists.