Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu has praised Milan Expo 2015 as "extraordinary" during
a visit this week, when the event's organizers announced longer
opening hours due to the growing crowds visiting the world's
fair.
Netanyahu on Thursday said the food-themed Universal
Exposition "speaks of the success of Italy".
Italy's links to Israel can be strengthened in sectors such
as "tourism, technology, science (and) culture," the Israeli
premier also said.
"Israel and Italy work together in Africa in just one
country," noted Netanyahu, referring to Senegal, calling for a
wider collaboration he was willing to discuss with Italian
Premier Matteo Renzi during talks scheduled Friday in Florence.
"Israel has been a pioneer in science applied to
agriculture," he added.
"We made such progress in irrigation and desalination in
the 1970s that today we recycle 80% of our water".
Netanyahu was one of several world leaders to travel to
Expo since it opened on May 1.
Previous visitors included British Premier David Cameron,
German chancellor Angela Merkel, the heads of State of France
and Russia, Francois Hollande and Vladimir Putin, and US First
Lady Michelle Obama.
Israel is one of a record 140 countries taking part in the
six-month fair, which runs under the banner 'Feeding the Planet,
Energy for Life' until October 31.
Its pavilion Fields of Tomorrow features a vertical field
planted with wheat, corn and rice thanks to technology which
enables the preservation of land and water resources.
And greeting the Israeli premier on Thursday, Italian
Agriculture Minister Maurizio Martina praised the "extraordinary
vertical field which describes better than any words what Israel
represents here at Expo".
The world's fair focuses on nutrition, sustainable
agriculture, the fight against world hunger and food waste while
celebrating culinary cultures worldwide.
"Expo has so far recorded millions of visitors while
millions of others are expected to be coming and we are honored
to contribute to international dialogue with this exposition",
Martina added.
Turnout at the fair during the month of August has been
higher than expected and organizers will be extending opening
hours as of Saturday.
Visitors will be granted access an hour earlier at least
at two of the four entrances (those of Roserio and Cascina
Merlata), while the Triulzia and Fiorenza entrances, those on
the train and metro side, will continue to open at 10 a.m.
The decision was taken after a meeting of the steering
committee with the participation of the countries attending Expo
over "the great influx of the public recorded in recent days".
In addition, visitors will be able to go into the Expo
site with the 5 euro evening ticket from 6 pm instead of 7 pm
while the seasonal pass, given that there are less than three
months to go, will be on sale at a discounted price of 75 euros.
Individual pavilions will decide whether to continue to
open at 10 a.m. or an hour earlier.
A number of them have registered a record turnout,
including Qatar's exhibition which has drawn two million people,
organizers said this week.
Though official data on the overall number of Expo visitors
in August will be released later, organizers said turnout has
been exceptionally high with peaks of 850,000 visitors during
the week of August 17-23.
A record 153,000 people visited on August 20 alone.
Over 10.1 million Expo tickets have been issued during the
fair's first three months, according to official data released
on August 1.
A reported 2.8 million visited the fair during the month of
July.
Hoteliers' association Federalberghi said this week that at
least 16 million Italians would be visiting the world's fair
before it wraps up on October 31.
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