QUEENSLAND'S GERMAN CONNECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

World Expo 2000: Hannover Georg Sewig led the International Participants Division during the four years of planning, and was also Deputy Chief of Protocol for the event. Just as for Brisbane after 1988, Expo memories remain fond and bright and international connections stronger than ever.

I started my work at EXPO GmbH on the 1st of July 1996 and had the opportunity to be close to all of the participating countries and organisations and all of their attending people. This opportunity arose because I was involved for nearly 30 years with fairs and exhibitions and especially familiar with the venue in Hannover. One of the challenges was to provide the right location for each country, bearing in mind their goals and wishes for participating: would they be sharing a fruitful neighbourhood inside a large hall, or standing apart in their own structure? My colleagues, including my friend Hans-Dieter Zeissner (who was responsible for Australia, Oceania and East-/Southeast Asia), and I were very much interested to find the right solution for a spectacular place in the open air area for Australia. That is why we offered the exceptional space close to the main entry and opposite the EXPOSee [EXPO Lake], where the spectacular Flambee fireworks and fire show took place every evening. Our persistence not only overcame the reluctance of the Expo organisers (who felt the location should be for spectators of the evening event), but also helped secure Australia’s signature for this prime position, on 27 April 1999, as the 157th of the 173 participating countries. This cemented a fruitful partnership, and led to the formation of shared business interests and friendships which happily continue to this day. Australia’s 2,500m 2 exhibition space was among the largest of any nation at EXPO 2000, and our determination to help showcase the largest island in the world, on the opposite side of the planet from Germany, was vindicated by the visitor traffic which averaged almost 20,000 a day during the entire event. From morning to the late night hours visitors sampled the dreams and tastes of the land “Down Under” – including the most famous bar on the EXPO site! – encompassed by the unforgettable recreation of Ayers Rock.

We will never forget the various and wonderful staff members of all the EXPO participants and all of the visitors from all over the globe. No doubt about it, this was also our way to make friends especially with the people from Queensland and around Australia at the big red pavilion. The friendly people from down under make it easy to discover and make new and real friends right up to today.

Visitors taking in the ‘Innovative Australia’ section of the pavilion

This reminds me of my first visit to Australia on an EXPO-business trip in 1998, when Dieter Zeissner and I had the opportunity to be actually in Australia on 26th of January …. another reason to fall in love with this special, lovely, exceptional and interesting continent on the opposite side of the globe. My next visit took place in October 1999. Dieter Zeissner and I delivered detailed briefings and EXPO presentations to business organisations and governments in in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane. We got the first impression of the shape and the size of the proposed Australian EXPO pavilion in the Australian Technology Park, where we had meetings with the Trade Minister, members of the board of the Australia-German Association and as well of the German Australian Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Personal high-level contacts, which we never will forget and which were helpful for the decision to take part in the EXPO 2000 Hannover. It was remarkable to hear from the taxi driver at the airport in advance and before visiting your former EXPO site at South Bank that he was so proud of the development of the whole city of Brisbane through the EXPO. He didn’t know that his passengers were from the management of another “EXPO city” on our way to finalise the participation contract with Australia! We were very much impressed, and hoped that the inhabitants of Hannover would also come to be such marketing professionals after EXPO 2000 Hannover … the first World Exposition held in Germany.

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