LIVERPOOL is the only UK city outside London to have won a place to exhibit at the world’s biggest business fair – the World Expo 2010 in the city’s twin of Shanghai in China.

Liverpool bid against 100 other international cities to win a place at the six-month expo in what was dubbed the “Business Olympics”.

The World Expo is held every five years and is expected to attract 70m visitors, thousands of global industrialists and will be attended by world leaders. Liverpool aims to attract billions of pounds of Chinese investment while showcasing the massive regeneration taking place in the region. Last night securing a place at the event was described as the next big thing for the city following the flagship Capital of Culture year.

The city has been offered 900sq m of exhibition space – about the size of five tennis courts – and is anticipating spending between £1m and £1.5m on the event.

Council leader Warren Bradley said last night: “This is brilliant news for Liverpool and the whole of Merseyside.

“We have beaten major international cities throughout the world for a place at World Expo 2010, and with it the chance to tell the world about the fantastic transformation taking place in this great city.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to showcase our businesses, skills and enterprise to the global market.

“The benefits will be enormous.

“It’s a great opportunity for the private and public sectors to pull together and demonstrate just how successful we can be in attracting new investment and jobs to the region.”

Jim Gill, chief executive of Liverpool Vision, said the World Expo would provide a fantastic platform on which to build on the international exposure of winning European Capital of Culture.

“This is a huge, huge achievement for Liverpool, and its importance for the future economic success of the city cannot be overstated.

“It also opens up a range of exciting opportunities for Merseyside businesses to drive inward and outward trade with China and the rest of the world.”

The chairman of Liverpool-Shanghai Partnership Drummond Bone, vice-chancellor of the University of Liverpool, said the win reinforced the immense political and commercial value of its official twinning with Shanghai.

“Liverpool’s importance and standing in Anglo Chinese relations cannot now be under-estimated,” he said.

“Liverpool was encouraged to make this bid by Shanghai’s political leaders, and we now know how well Liverpool is thought of in China.

“This is our opportunity to drive home the huge advantage of our twinning to position Liverpool as one of the prime locations in Europe for Chinese investment.”

Business graduates from the university’s Suzhou campus, near Shanghai, are expected to help out on the Liverpool stand.

Liverpool council’s chief executive, Colin Hilton, said he was hoping the city could be the “natural conduit” for the North West into China. “We have been picked as one of the cities, not just because of the twinning link but because of what we have achieved in Liverpool,” he said.

He said the exposure the fair would give the city was another opportunity for Liverpool to continue to raise its profile in a similar fashion to Capital of Culture.

“This is not just about doing trade with China, which is obviously very important, but it’s also about putting us on a world stage.”

Relationship forged a decade ago

LIVERPOOL’S participation in the World Expo 2010 is the result of a relationship forged almost nearly a decade ago.

“I suppose we need to go back nine years when the city first made its twinning arrangements with Shanghai,” said Mike Taylor, director of investment and enterprise at Liverpool Vision.

“Nothing really happened in the intervening period.”

A year ago, the relationship was resurrected with the signing of a memorandum of understanding in Shanghai between the two cities.

After the agreement, Liverpool was invited to bid for a stand at the World Expo 2010.

Since then, three delegations have been sent from Shanghai and Mr Taylor said there now appears to be a “genuine intent” on the Chinese behalf to do business with Liverpool.

In September, Liverpool will be sending a delegation to Shanghai with the primary focus on generating interest among investors in Peel Holdings’ Wirral Waters and Liverpool Waters, which have a combined value of £10bn.

“September will be important for us to work out exactly what we can deliver in 2010.”

He said Liverpool has been offered 900 sq m of exhibition space – about the size of five tennis courts – in a “rather large” pavilion.

The Expo 2010 site covers 5.28 sq km of cleared former industrial and dockland site on both sides of the banks of the Huangpu River.

During the Expo, which runs from May to October in 2010, Liverpool will exhibit in the Urban Best Practice pavilion, together with 23 other of the world’s leading cities.

Officials hope Liverpool will be able to demonstrate how a modern, leading city can develop and prosper, at the same time as conserving its rich history as a World Heritage site.

Mr Taylor, who is overseeing the city’s preparations, admitted the challenge of running a six-month stand is rather different to the city’s annual representation at Mipim in Cannes on the French riviera.

“Realistically, we are looking at spending between £1m and £1.5m,” he said.

Liverpool council is currently looking at contributing £300,000 with a possible contribution from The Mersey Partnership and most of the rest coming from the private sector.

Mr Taylor said it was also hoped that other local authorities from the area would contribute and play a part in the delegation.

“There is no point in just Liverpool going along as Liverpool, we need to be representing the city region.

“So we are very keen to get the other local authorities on board as well.”

Peel Holdings is also being courted to play a big role and sponsor Liverpool’s stand.

“They want Chinese investment and a Chinese construction company to act as a partner on that [Wirral and Liverpool Waters].

He said there is still a “massive mountain” to climb with regards to planning and logistics for the event.

Mr Taylor is keen that Liverpool does not spend a huge amount of money on static scenery for the stand: “I am hoping we can do a lot of virtual 3D presentations and modelling – then we can bring it back with us on a computer.”

He said the chance to attract investment to Liverpool was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“We have now got this phenomenal opportunity, the Chinese have got billions waiting to invest and this is our chance to be head and shoulders above the rest.

“We will be able to showcase Liverpool like we have never been able to before.

“This is the next big thing after being European Capital of Culture.”

He said the success of Liverpool’s exhibition would have to be judged on what it achieves.

“It’s got to be that we start seeing some real value from this relationship [with Shanghai].”

But he believes Liverpool will have plenty to shout about at the expo.

“Liverpool has one of the most undervalued wealth management sectors, as a city we have considerably more assets than people give us credit for.”

Kerry Brown, executive director of the Liverpool Shanghai Partnership, said the Expo will be crucial to increasing the amount of Chinese investment in Liverpool.

davidbartlett