Poland hopes Euro 2012 success will boost World Expo bid

Poland hopes that the success of its bid to hold the Euro 2012 football championships will boost its chances of being picked to host the World Expo the same year, a government minister said Friday.

Deputy Culture Minister Krzysztof Olendzki said that the victory of Poland's joint bid with Ukraine for the football tournament was a clear sign in favour of the city of Wroclaw, which is in the race to host Expo 2012.

"The decision to award Poland and Ukraine the football championships proves that Poland is now seen as a country with the full potential required to organise major international events," Olendzki told reporters.

"The two events, Euro 2012 and Expo 2012, are mutually stimulating and complementary," added the minister, who is piloting Wroclaw's bid.

European football's governing body, UEFA, picked Poland and Ukraine as the Euro 2012 organisers in April.

Wroclaw, in southwest Poland, is one of the match venues.

It is also a high-tech hotspot, and draws more foreign investment than any other Polish city.

In the race to host the World Expo, a major showcase for participating countries, Wroclaw is up against Tangiers, in Morocco, and the South Korean city of Yeosu.

Both Wroclaw and Yeosu lost out to Shanghai in China in the bidding to host Expo 2010.

The International Exhibitions Bureau -- which chooses the host city for an event dating back to the London's 1851 Great Exhibition -- is due to receive detailed bid presentations in Paris on Tuesday.

The bureau's 98 member states are set to pick the winner at a meeting on November 26-27.

Olendzki said that Poland could attract 12 million visitors if it hosts both the World Expo and Euro 2012.

The Polish bidders dismissed suggestions that plans to host two events in the same year would spark jitters in the International Exhibitions Bureau, comparing their plans with those of Spain in 1992.

"Two events in the same year could be an advantage for Wroclaw's bid. In 1992, Spain was able to hold the World Expo in Seville as well the Olympics in Barcelona," said Jaroslaw Obremski, deputy mayor of Wroclaw.

Source:eubusiness.com