Yeosu Expo to hold preliminary meeting of participants

   YEOSU -- The organizing committee for the 2012 Yeosu Expo will hold a meeting with representatives from the participating countries to explain details on its preparation for the international exhibition, it said Sunday.

   The meeting is expected to bring together Vicente Gonzalez Loscertales, secretary general of the Paris-based Bureau of International Exhibitions (BIE), and some 250 representatives from participating nations and international exhibition organizations.

   At the meeting, the organizing committee will give the representatives a run-down of the current status of the event and tour of the venue in Yeosu, about 455 kilometers south of Seoul,

from Tuesday to Thursday, the organizer said.       

   In 2007, the BIE selected the South Korean coastal city of Yeosu as the host of the global event with the environmental slogan of "The Living Ocean and Coast."

   So far, 92 nations and six international agencies have expressed their intentions to participate in the expo, it said. 

   The 93-day expo will kick off in May 2012 and is expected to attract over 8 million visitors from more than 100 countries around the world, according to the organizing committee.

 (Yonhap News)