WORLD EXPO 2025 NEWS「KIZUNA －絆－News letter」
KIZUNA means bonds in English①②③④

JIMI Hanako, Minister for the World Expo 2025 withrepresentatives of the governments of ①Australia, ②Canada,③Colombia, and ④Italy

Issued June 26, 2024, Vol.10⑤Dimitri S. Kerkentzes, the Secretary General of the BIE, in a conferencewith Prime Minister KISHIDA and TOKURA Masakazu, Chairman of theJapan Business Federation (Keidanren)/Chairperson of the Japan
Association for the 2025 World Exposition

Dimitri S. Kerkentzes, the Secretary General of the BIE, in a conferencewith SAITO Ken, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry【The week’s report】

1. Overseas Pavilions Construction Status
June 17: Activity announcement of theNetherlands Pavilion
June 21: Groundbreaking ceremony of theRomania Pavilion
2. Last week’s main events / Schedule for this weekand beyond
June 24: Dimitri S. Kerkentzes, the Secretary
General of the BIE, makes a courtesy visit to Prime
Minister KISHIDA and has a conference withSAITO Ken, Minister of Economy, Trade andIndustry
June 24: Full-scale operation of the One Stop Shop
June 19: The Japan Association for the 2025 WorldExposition and the Payments Japan Associationenter into a partnership agreement for promoting
cashless payments
June 20: Additional announcement of National
Days/Special Days

⑥JIMI Hanako, Minister for theWorld Expo 2025 with ⑤Dimitri
S. Kerkentzes, the Secretary
General of the BIE, and ⑥
YAMASHITA Makoto, Governorof Nara

The One Stop Shop launched at the Japan
Association for the 2025 World Exposition on
June 24

June 20: MYAKU-MYAKU invited to perform inthe Yoshimoto Shinkigeki show
June 19: Third issue of the online magazine
Monthly JP pavilion published
June 22: Official store no. 12 launched atJUNKUDO Namba Store
June 24: The Japan Association for the 2025 World
Exposition announces safety measures related tomethane gas, etc.
3. Sales / Applications
Tickets sold: 2,800,949 (as of June 19)

IPM held with great
success in Nara!

© EXPO 2025

Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan Weekly Report (June 18 - June 24)~ 292 days to go！~2024.6.25

1. Official Participants- June 17; The Netherlands announced the five main themes for its participation in Expo
205: 1) life science and health, 2) energy, sustainability and circular economy, 3)sustainable food production and horticulture, 4) high-tech and digitalisation and 5)
culture.

https://www.rvo.nl/onderwerpen/landenen-gebieden/japan/expo-2025osaka/programmering-5-sectoren-tracks

https://www.expo2025.or.jp/officialparticipant/netherlands- June 21; Romania held a groundbreaking ceremony of its pavilion, which will be
constructed with recyclable materials. Events featuring Romania's cultural diversity
through music and dance are planned to take place during the Expo. Romania’s National
Day, scheduled for June 26, 2025, will host a business forum and a large-scale culturaland artistic event.

Photos provided by the Romanian Expo team1

June 18; The Ministry of Foreign Affairs updated the list of official participants.
Argentina and Niue will not participate due to domestic circumstances, while Sierra
Leone and Barbados newly announced their participation. The total number ofparticipating countries remains the same at 161.
Status of participating countries as of June 19- Number of countries with official participation agreements:- Countries where have been decided their construction companies:- Countries where already handed over the site:- Countries where construction has started:

102 countries
40 countries43 countries
32 countries

2. Reports from the past week and plans for the upcoming week
- June 24; The Secretary General of the BIE, Mr. Dimitri Kerkentzes, paid a courtesy callon Prime Minister Kishida.
- Prime Minister Kishida conveyed the significance of the Expo as a place where people
from all over the world can meet and gain unexpected new experiences and confirmedthat that all parties involved will work together to make the Expo a success.
- Secretary General Kerkentzes paid tribute to Prime Minister Kishida's leadership inpreparing for the Expo and mentioned that the IPM to be held in Nara from May 25 will
be an opportunity to promote the event throughout Japan.

Left: Prime Minister Kishida and Secretary General Kerkentzes
Right: The BIE delegation including Secretary General Kerkentzes, Prime Minister Kishida, Mr. Tokura as Chairmanof the Association, Ambassador Haneda as Commissioner General of the Expo and Mr Ishige as Secretary General ofthe Association2

- June 24; Prior to the courtesy call on Prime Minister Kishida, Secretary General
Kerkentzes held a meeting with Mr. Saito, Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry.
- Secretary General Kerkentzes stated that participating countries were positive andsupported Japan's efforts. Both sides agreed to continue to work closely together to build
momentum and support the preparation of official participants.

https://www.meti.go.jp/press/2024/06/20240624002/20240624002.html- June 24; The One-Stop Shop (OSS) has officially opened on the 47th floor of theSakishima Government Building in Osaka, in the same building as the Association.
- On the first day, June 24, approximately 120 people from 30 countries and internationalorganisations visited to consult the OSS. The number of consultation categories has been
expanded to a total of 26. In addition to online support, it provides consultations in person
as well for administrative services in terms of permits and licenses.

- June 19; The Association and the Cashless Promotion Council signed a partnership3

agreement on the promotion of cashless payments. The agreement encompasses
promotional activities for cashless operations in the venue.
https://www.expo2025.or.jp/news/news-20240619-01/- June 20; The Association announced that further 31 National Days and Special Days
have been set. Japan's National Day will be held on July 3, 2025. In addition, 86 newevents to be held during the Expo were announced, bringing the total to 202.
https://www.expo2025.or.jp/news/news-20240620-01/- June 20; The official character Myaku-Myaku made a guest appearance in a longrunning comedy play by Yoshimoto Corporation, on of the largest entertainment
agencies and Japan that will be exhibiting a private-sector pavilion at the Expo. This was
the first time Myaku-Myaku conversed with a living person.

https://www.expo2025.or.jp/news/news-20240620-05/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDqjWONimKE

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- June 19; The third issue of the web magazine Monthly Japan Pavilion was published.
The topic of this issue is the Power of Microorganisms and Fermentation.

https://2025-japan-pavilion.go.jp/- June 22; A new Osaka-Kansai Expo Official Store opened in the Junkudo Bookstore
Namba store. This brings the total number of physical official stores nationwide to 12.

https://www.expo2025.or.jp/news/news-20240614-04/

5

- June 24; The Association made a media briefing on the details and new measures to betaken regarding the explosion accident which occurred on March 28 and the detectionof low-concentration methane gas in the pavilion zone. Safety measures to be takenby the Association and its contractors for methane gas release has been published on
the official website.
https://www.expo2025.or.jp/news/news-20240624-02/

3. Ticket sales- Number of tickets sales: 2,800,949 as of June 196