70 million visitors, 192 states taking part, 20.000 cultural events, 100 chiefs of state visiting and a 4.2 billion dollars budget. These are impressive figures describing the World Shanghai Exhibition 2010, which officially open this Friday, April 30. "Better City, Better Life" is the theme of the event, which will be open over the next six months, until end October. Romania has got its own pavilion, in the shape of a green apple, promoting the idea of a green, ecological city and sustainable development.

Shanghai is these days the centre of global attention, especially from the economic point of view. Many say here take place the economy, environment business and international commerce Olympics. At 7 pm in Shanghai (2 pm Romanian time, 12 pm London time) the Expo 2010 will be officially open. The exhibition will be open to the public starting May 1.

The Expo 2010 site stretches across 5.3 kilometres, on both River Huangpu banks, which is twice as big as Monaco, 20 times bigger than the last international exhibition that took place in Saragossa, and the equivalent of nearly 1.000 football fields.

The international press reads that 18,000 households have been torn down to make way for the exhibition. It is expected that the owners of the bulldozed homes to join the protesters who already announced their presence at the event, alongside dissidents and activists.

Expo Shanghai 2010 has got the largest budget in the history of such events: approximately 4.2 billion dollars, double the sum poured into the Beijing Olympics. According to Reuters, Shanghai allocated 45 billion dollars to improve the infrastructure, creating the world's longest tube network, two new terminals for the airport and new roads, parks and bridges.

Organisers selected 72.000 Chinese volunteers for the exhibition's site and 10.000 more for