Expo opens with food, nutrition theme

(ANSA) - Milan, April 30 - Years of planning and preparations come to fruition Friday as Milan Expo 2015 officially opens for what organizers hope will be six months of celebrations of Italian culture and global mindfulness.
    A televised ceremony midday from Milan's Open Air Theatre will include Premier Matteo Renzi, who is slated to give a brief speech, along with Expo Commissioner Giuseppe Sala.
    The Italian Air Force's Frecce Tricolori aerobatic team will then perform a fly-past with music provided by the band of the Carabinieri police corps. Renzi is expected to later visit the Nepal pavilion, to honour its host country which last Saturday was struck by a devastating earthquake that has taken the lives of at least 5,500 people.
    Indeed, global issues are top of the agenda for Milan Expo 2015, which focuses on food, nutrition and fighting hunger with the theme Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.
    It is expected to draw over 20 million visitors overall, and more than 140 countries have signed on to participate in the world's fair which includes 54 pavilions.
    Protesters opposed to Expo have been making their presence known, but authorities have maintained the event will not be affected.
    Festivities for the opening of Expo will end in the evening with the premiere of Puccini's Turandot at the La Scala opera house as well as a concert in Piazza Duomo by Andrea Bocelli.
    A wide range of activities are also planned on the sidelines of Expo, including a festival with Hollywood stars marking the 40th anniversary of Milan fashion house Armani, founded by Giorgio Armani.
    At that event, Renzi said that Expo could be the "spark" that will help to restart Italy. Some nine million Italians have already decided to visit Milan Expo 2015, says Italian hoteliers federation Federalberghi.
    "These figures highlight the importance of events of this scale for our country," said Federalberghi President Bernabò Bocca.
    But as well as the boost to the Italian economy, a Milan Charter on food security will be a guiding "act of commitment", for the event, Agriculture Minister Maurizio Martina said this week.
    The Charter will be developed over the six months of Expo before being presented to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "(Expo's theme) Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life is an important title and the global food challenge, with its contradictions and paradoxes, is the mother of all the crucial geopolitical questions of our time," Martina said.
    "It is a challenge concerning equity, justice and sovereignty, as recent events in the Mediterranean and in Africa have once again dramatically shown," Martina said.
    The grounds for the charter are "as ambitious as they are urgent", according to the minister.
    "The right to food must be considered a fundamental human right and widespread mobilisation is required to guarantee equal access to food for all," he concluded.