site.btaBulgarian Pavilion at 2025 World Expo in Osaka among First to Be Certified as Completed

Of the 47 countries building a Type-A pavilion at the Osaka Expo this year, only eight have had their buildings certified by the organizers as completed and Bulgaria is one of them, Kyodo news agency reported Thursday.

The other seven are Ireland, the Philippines, South Korea, Australia, the Netherlands, Malaysia, and Hungary.

Bulgaria's pavilion at the 2025 World Expo will be staffed by Bulgarian students, as proposed by the Tourism Ministry, and will bear this country's name. 

The exposition will be held on the artificial island of Yumeshima, Osaka Bay, from April 13 to October 13, and is expected to attract 28.2 million visitors from all over the world. 

The Japanese government expects the economic impact of the 2025 World Expo in Osaka to reach nearly JPY 3 trillion (USD 20 billion), Kyodo said.

But advance tickets sold as of March 5 stood at 8.07 million, far off the target of 14 million set by the organizers. Hiroyuki Ishige, secretary general of the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition, acknowledged that this goal was "extremely ambitious."

Ticket sales began in November 2023.

Meanwhile, only about 20% of the Type-A (self-built) pavilions, considered the highlight of the expo, have been certified by the organizers as completed.

"It is true there is a risk that construction [of the pavilions] will not be finished in time for the expo's opening," Ishige said.

Visitors are required to book tickets online for specific dates and times to minimize queues, but critics say the ticket reservation system is too complex and has contributed to the lackluster presales.

The organizers have recently been forced to review their original plan and introduce same-day tickets.

Rises in materials costs, delays in making contracts with building contractors due to complex designs, and labor shortages are among the factors that have hampered progress in pavilion construction.

The Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition has requested participating countries to finish constructing the pavilions by mid-January.

Foreign participants have also been asked to complete their interior displays by around March 13 and gain the association's approval for accepting visitors. No country has reached that stage yet.

It was only in December 2024 that all countries planning Type A pavilions started construction work. Some countries originally planning to set up their own pavilions have switched to the simpler Type X pavilions that are built by the organizer and rented out to participants. The site's construction cost has nearly doubled from the initial estimate, with the central government, the Osaka prefectural and municipal governments, and the private sector each bearing a third of the bill, according to Kyodo. 

Japan is hosting the World Exposition for the third time, following events in 1970 in Osaka Prefecture and in 2005 in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan.

A total of 158 countries and regions are planning exhibitions at pavilions at the exposition in Osaka, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.