NARA: The opening ceremony for the 2025 World Exposition in the city of Osaka, western Japan, will be held on April 12 next year, a day before the start of the six-month-long event.

The schedule was unveiled by Hiroyuki Ishige, secretary-general of the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition, at the beginning of a related meeting that started Tuesday in the western Japan city of Nara for a two-day run. The meeting is attended by representatives from countries and regions slated to take part in the expo.

With less than 300 days to go before the opening of the event, some participants are facing serious delays in the construction of pavilions.

While encouraging them to shift to simpler pavilions, the organizing association will accelerate preparations for the expo, to be held on Yumeshima, an artificial island, and joined by 161 countries and regions as well as nine international organizations.

Maximum flexibility and ability to respond will be required in the coming months to hold the major international event, Dimitri Kerkentzes, secretary-general of the Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), said at the international participants meeting Tuesday.

Initially, 60 countries planned to construct Type A self-built pavilions. But the number fell to 51 as of Wednesday due to difficulties concluding contracts with construction companies mainly as a result of soaring materials costs. Of them, 11 countries have not yet reached deals with contractors.

The association is mainly calling on them to switch to Type X simple pavilions to be built by the Japanese side.

JIJI Press