The Shanghai World Expo Coordination Bureau is ready to start looking for its first group of volunteers, it announced Wednesday. They will participate in promotion, organization, planning, and training during preparations for the 2010 event.

Organizers expect to host some 70 million visitors at the six-month-long Shanghai World Expo. The anticipated daily flow of about 400,000 visitors will require 10,000 volunteers to provide various services. Assuming that each group of 10,000 volunteers works for two weeks, the bureau estimates that it will need 130,000 volunteers.

The volunteer corps will mainly comprise students. However, anyone who has a passion for the Expo, including the disabled, is welcome to join in the team, said Shanghai Vice Mayor Zhou Yupeng. Zhou is also director of the World Expo Coordination Bureau.

"We wish for everyone to witness the preparations and feel like a World Expo host. We need to create a participation mechanism to enable all people to be part of it," he said.

Numerous volunteers will also be needed during the preparation stage. Information on volunteer programs will be available on the Expo website at www.expo2010china.com.

Shanghai won its bid to host the 2010 World Expo in December 2002. The landmark vote makes China the first developing country ever to host the event, which was first held 153 years ago.

(China Daily July 29, 2004)