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The number of official participants to the exposition has reached 100

Tokyo - The Japan Association for the 2005 World Exposition announced today that the number of official participants to the exposition has reached 100. The EXPO 2005 World Exposition will be held between 25 March and 25 September 2005 in Aichi, Japan. The main topic of the exposition will be "Natureís Wisdom". Various countries from all around the world, international institutions and global citizensë and non-profit organisations will meet to discuss the cohabitation of humans and nature and the possible solutions to common problems which the mankind has to face in the 21st century.

On 28 May, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs notified the organising Association that Croatia had confirmed its participation. Thus the number of participants to the exposition reached 100 (93 countries and 7 international organisations). Out of the participating countries, 23 are from Asia, 17 from Europe, 28 from Africa, 14 from North and South America, 8 from the Russian Federation and the Commonwealth of Independent States and 3 from the Pacific region.

Key details concerning the current preparations of EXPO 2005:

• 30 March 2001 - the Japanese Government officially invited 188 countries and 78 international organisations to participate in the EXPO 2005 World Exposition
• 19 April 2001 - the Convention of Biological Diversity becomes the first official participant to the exposition
• 2 May 2001 - Canada becomes the first country to confirm its official participation
• 4 April 2003 - the Kingdom of Morocco confirmed its participation in the exposition and the number of official participants reached 83, which is the largest participation in a World Exposition in Japan so far
• 27 May 2003 - Croatia confirmed its participation in EXPO 2005 and thus the number of participants to the exposition reached 100.

Harumi Sakamoto, the Secretary-General of the organising Association, said: "We are trying hard to ensure that the highest possible number of countries, non-profit organisations and international institutions and companies participate in this event. The EXPO 2005 World Exposition is the first big opportunity of the 21st century to communicate about current problems. When the number of official participants reached 100, we have achieved one of our goals. We are very happy to have achieved this and we are convinced that it is very important for the success of EXPO 2005. The first meeting of the secretaries-general of the Association will take place this autumn and the Association will continue its close cooperation with the exposition participants in order to make the exposition ever more attractive for them."

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