Ray Mkhize, marketing and communications executive at the Johannesburg World Summit Company says there will be three principal sources of income from government, from donor contributions and from business. The company, formed in February, has yet to attract sponsorship from business. Tenders for the agencies were put out in May, and the closing date is June 11. With only 15 months until the summit, this appears to be cutting it fine. It took Durban two years to prepare for last year's World AIDS Conference which attracted 12500 delegates, about a fifth of what Johannesburg is expecting.
Transport is the biggest headache for the conference organisers.
The nucleus of the summit will be the Sandton Convention Centre, which will host the United Nations delegates. The centre is surrounded by 29 hotels, offering 5025 rooms within a 15km radius, which will be retained exclusively for the duration of the summit, to be held from September 2 to 11 2002. Parallel conferences for business, labour and nongovernmental organisations will be held at Nasrec, south of Johannesburg, the MTN Sundome, in the North, and Gallagher Estate in Midrand. Metrobus has ordered 200 buses, which will be used during the conference. The buses are due to be delivered in January next year.