According to him, in 2004 the project will be financed to a value of 3.1 million dollars, and in 2005 the remaining part of the money will be granted.
"This sum is obviously not sufficient and therefore we shall attract well-known Russian companies as sponsors. For instance, the sum for covering the exhibition in the mass media has not been built into the budget. For this reason we shall finance it from the sponsors' money," Zhdanov said.
"We must make our exposition the best at EXPO-2005 to get the chance for similar projects in Russia," he said. Russia, it will be recalled, expressed its desire to become the organizer of the EXPO-2015.
The World EXPO-2005 will take place in the Japanese city of Nagoya from March 25 to September 25, 2005. That will be the fourth world exhibition in Japan. Exhibitions of this kind have never been held in Russia. These world exhibitions, the history of which started in 1851, are held, as a rule, once in four or five years. The EXPO-2005 will be the first world exhibition in the 21st century.
