Milan Expo to be a 'big success', Renzi

(By Elisa Cecchi) (ANSA) - Rome, November 21 - Italian Premier Matteo Renzi this week has expressed his confidence in the outcome of Milan Expo 2015.
    ''Expo will go well'', said Renzi on Thursday of the food-themed Universal Exhibition scheduled to take place in Italy's financial capital from May 1 through October 31.
    ''It will be a big success for Italy and I must thank those who are working and trying to sort out the problems, starting with the anti-corruption authority,'' the premier continued.
    ''(President Raffaele) Cantone has been fundamental and he will be essential over the next few months''.
    Cantone was given powers during the summer to oversee Expo business after seven managers and ex-members of parliament were arrested in May for allegedly rigging public tenders for the World's Fair.
    Expo chief Giuseppe Sala said earlier this week that 6.5 million tickets have already been sold for the event, including one million in China, stressing it was good news for tourism throughout Italy.
    Renzi has set the target of selling 10 million tickets for the event before it starts, with organizers hoping to attract 20 million visitors.
    And wider participation will also be enhanced by a joint program announced this week between universities in Milan and in southern Mediterranean countries, including Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Lebanon.
    ''Relations will be more intense and will include scientific research with a fundamental impact in Italy as well, to improve the quality of food production'', said the president of the scientific committee for Expo 2015 of the city of Milan, Claudia Sorlini.
    Sorlini made the announcement this week during the congress ''Expo Medit food. Milan, door to the Mediterranean and platform for Europe', promoted by the Italian Center for Peace in the Middle East, in cooperation with the Euro-Mediterranean Development Foundation for micro, small and medium enterprises, under the patronage of Expo 2015.
    Italy and Milan have cooperated with the University of Tunis for two decades, in particular with exchange programs for researchers in nutrition and agriculture, noted Sorlini, formerly a dean at the University of Milan's department of agriculture.
    A project is currently ongoing with the University of Tunis to help plants grow in dry soil - in particular by selecting bacteria and fungi, which can only be found in such areas, to use them as biofertilizers.
    Joint programs have also been inaugurated with Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, where bacteria destroy fruit plants, like almond and apricot trees, affecting local economies.
    ''Universities are in this case cooperating with local governments and NGOs as well to try to identify this bacteria'', concluded Sorlini.
    And from agriculture to cuisine, eight top Italian chefs will act as ambassadors to the event by interpreting the theme of the Expo - Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life - through a key ingredient.
    Carlo Cracco, Davide Oldani, Ugo Alciati, Enrico Bartolini, Cesare Battisti, Ernst Knam, Moreno Cedroni and Pietro Leemann are the Expo Chef Ambassadors and have all been interviewed in their kitchens to describe what they expect from the fair and which ingredient they think represents it best.
    The videos have all been posted online to the event's official website (www.expo2015.org ).
    Cracco chose eggs, Oldani saffron, Alciati milk, Bartolini eggplants, Battisti rice, Knam cocoa, Cedroni extra-virgin oil and Leeman busckwheat.
    The project was presented this week in Milan by Paolo Marchi of the international cooking convention Identità Golose, or greedy identities, and the eight chefs will join 70 others already involved by Expo as ambassadors for the food-themed event.