Australian Aichi Pavilion Wins International Award

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade, Mark Vaile, today announced that Australia's Pavilion at the 2005 Aichi World Expo had been awarded a prestigious "Silver Prize" for its presentation on the theme of the Expo.

"This is the first time that an Australian Pavilion at a World Expo has been honoured with one of these best pavilion awards," Mr Vaile said.

"An international jury appointed by the Paris-based Bureau des International Exposition (BIE) awarded the Australian Pavilion a silver "Nature's Wisdom" Award on 19 September."

The awards will be presented on 24 September, the day before the end of the popular six-month Expo in Nagoya City, Japan.

Already more than 20 million people have visited the Expo which includes the pavilions of 120 participating countries. This is 30% more visitors than was anticipated.

"I am delighted that the Australian pavilion has been one of the most popular pavilions at the Expo, attracting more than 3.5 million visitors to its exhibition experience, café and gift shop," Mr Vaile said.

"I'd like to congratulate Commissioner General Andrew Todd and Business Envoy Ian Grigg and the team at the Australian pavilion for the great job they have done in promoting Australia to the world."

Mr Vaile said he particularly welcomed the jury's commendation of the Australian Pavilion "for presenting the traditions of indigenous peoples, its recognition of contemporary environmental problems and its hard look at the need for innovative solutions.

He added that the finding of the prestigious international jury was supported by visitor surveys which found that 96% of visitors to the Australian pavilion felt that its presentation was consistent with the Expo theme of "Nature's Wisdom.

The "Nature's Wisdom" awards were divided into four categories depending on the size of each country's pavilion. Within Australia's category, the gold prize was awarded to the Mexico Pavilion, while the bronze went to the Malaysia Pavilion.

Contacts: Richard Forbes (Mr Vaile's Office) 02 6277 7420, Matt Anderson (Departmental) 02 6261 1555