Shanghai Expo Official Speeches

AMBASSADOR HUNTSMAN: Thank you very much. Honored and delighted to be here. We just wrapped up a session with Secretary Clinton, going through many of the details of her upcoming trip to Shanghai. It’s an exciting time in Shanghai, as you could probably imagine. It allowed me to reflect back just recently where I had an opportunity in the front of the American Pavilion to formally open our presence there, which was very, very exciting. And I’m pleased to report that the Pavilion passed 400,000 visitors on May 13th. We’re projected to pass the half million mark by Sunday. This puts us on track for 1 million visitors per month, as predicted. So based on the numbers, it’s safe to say that we’re among the most popular pavilions at the Expo.
 
Now, you had to be there to really appreciate what became a four-hour wait almost immediately after opening the Pavilion. It’s a theme within the Pavilion that speaks to the best of America. It speaks to innovation, sustainability, diversity, creativity. It projects great enthusiasm. And I know the Secretary is going to enjoy it enormously.
 
I want to thank the Chinese Government and the city of Shanghai for their very, very hard work in organizing the 192 countries and countless organizations that are part of the Expo. It has allowed us to participate in a meaningful and significant way, in public and commercial diplomacy, in ways that would otherwise be absolutely impossible.
 
So to put this in perspective, as it plays out over six months, I guess the only way to properly describe it is it will likely be the biggest event that ever was with 70 million people funneling through the various national pavilions during that time.
 
So is it an opportunity for the United States to hit a homerun on the public diplomacy side and on the commercial diplomacy side where the creation of jobs is so critically important for us right now? Absolutely.
 
I also want to point out that we have about 70 student ambassadors who were there to greet me the day that I opened it, all fluent in Chinese – I tested them – and greeting wave after wave of visitor groups, and they, too, also represent the best that America has to put on display. But most important to me, and what I think the Secretary is going to see when she is there, is that we have a very unique opportunity to leave a lasting impression with the people of China, which is what we try to do through public diplomacy.
 
It’s hard to quantify, in any meaningful way, the effect that this will have on the younger generation in China who have never been to the United States, who have had very little exposure to the United States, as they funnel through the Pavilion and are left with lasting impressions about who we are and what uniquely makes us American. That’s the one aspect of the U.S. Pavilion that I think is so powerful today and is going to resonate for many, many years to come.
 
So as U.S. Ambassador in China, I’m absolutely delighted that our public diplomacy efforts have been ratcheted up substantially by the ability to put on display the best that America has to offer through this American – through this U.S. Pavilion. And none of it would have been possible without the good work of Ambassador Bagley and Jose Villarreal, who you’ll be hearing from in just a moment.

Expo 2010: Final Commissioner General’s Report (March 2011)