Number of Official Participants Hits 100

The 2005 World Exposition will be held from March 25 to September 25, 2005, in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, on the theme of "Nature's Wisdom." Countries, international organizations, global citizens, and nonprofit organizations will gather from around the world to work toward the sustainable coexistence of nature and humankind and to seek solutions to the common problems faced by humankind in the twenty-first century.

Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs notified the association on May 28 that it had received an announcement of participation from the Republic of Croatia. This took the number of official participants to 100 (93 countries and 7 international organizations). Of the countries, 23 are from Asia, 17 from Europe, 28 from Africa, 14 from North and South America, 8 from the Russian Federation and Newly Independent States, and 3 from Oceania.

EXPO 2005 timeline:

2001
March 30 Japanese government begins inviting 188 countries and 78 international organizations to take part in EXPO 2005.
April 19 Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity becomes the first official participant.
May 02 Canada becomes the first country to officially announce its participation.
2003
April 04 Kingdom of Morocco announces its participation, bringing the number of participating countries to 83, the most ever for a World Exposition in Japan.
May 27 Republic of Croatia announces its participation, bringing the number of official participants to 100.

Harumi Sakamoto, secretary-general of the association, commented: "We are working to promote the involvement of a wide range of countries, international organizations, corporations, nonprofit organizations, and citizens to make EXPO 2005 a venue for grand global communication befitting the first World Exposition of the new century. Today marks the achievement of one of our goals, attracting 100 official participants. We are delighted at this achievement, which will provide fresh impetus toward making EXPO 2005 a success. The first meeting of the Commissioners General of Section will be held this autumn, and the association will work closely with participants to make the Exposition as attractive as possible."

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