Russia confident of holding World Expo 2020

By Mahes Perera

The Head of the Federal Agency for the affairs of the Commonwealth of Independent States, compatriots living abroad and International Humanitarian Co-operation and the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation Konstantin Kosachev was in Sri Lanka recently on a mission to promote the Russian application for the World Expo 2020.

The universal exhibition was held in China in 2010; the next one will be held in Italy in 2016 followed by the 2020 event. The venue country is not yet determined.

Head of the Federal Agency for the affairs of the  Commonwealth of Independent States and the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation Konstantin Kosachev

'Five countries are competing, Russia included. The decision will be by secret ballot. The voting will be by 162 countries who are members of the International Bureau. Sri Lanka is one of the voting countries and we definitely count on the support of Sri Lanka for the Russian candidacy.

The meeting will be held in November this year. In this capacity I am meeting many prominent Sri Lankan politicians including the Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Economic Development.

My second mission is as head of the Federal Agency which runs Cultural centres in 77 countries to visit the countries where we have full scale Russian classes, meet the people who come to the centres and understand better how it is organised and how it should be organised in a better way if needed,' said Konstantin Kosachev.

Do the centres need improvement?

'Yes, I think so. The current system was built up 40 to 50 years ago. In many cases the cultural centres are in the same shape as when they were founded. In some cases we have the same traditional content which to my mind needs to be modernised. But for this modernisation we need to have money and my duty as the head of the Federation is to find the money to convince my colleagues in the Government of Russia that these activities need to be supported. Russia must be competitive, Russia must be interactive, Russian culture should be the real window to Russia.

To my mind if we are able to allocate more money, definitely we will be able to improve the quality'.

What are the areas that need to be attended to?

"In as many areas as you can imagine. For example Education. In the previous decades many a student from Sri Lanka went to Russia for higher education. Many of them are still active. Now the number of people who go from Sri Lanka to Russia is much, much lower.

In many cases it was the problem of Russia. Russia cannot offer reasonable proposals for specialised training. There are many practical problems which should be resolved on the Russian side, and make it attractive for many Sri Lankans as possible. Culturally we need to send out more Russian artistes - like film shows, concerts, exhibitions."

Coming back to Expo 2020, could you expand on the program?

'It's not a one-day show. It will go on for six months. It will be a place where all participating countries can present their potential - industrial, agricultural, scientific, education, whatever.

So this is a place where countries come for their best achievement and seek new partners. This is a unique chance to present their own potential to as many participants as possible.

How confident are you that Russia will win the franchise?

"I am absolutely confident about that, because Russia is the best country."