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The presentation of the World Exhibition EXPO 2008 and the Croatian presentation that will take place there took place in Gliptoteka of the Croatian Academy of Science and Arts on December 7. On that occasion in Zagreb arrived high representatives of the International Exhibition Bureau from Paris, the organizer of EXPO 2008, and of the City of Zaragoza.
Prior to the presentation the honorable guests visited President Stjepan Mesic. The Chairman of BIE, ambassador Jean-Pierre Lafon, informed the President of the great reputation which Croatia enjoys in that organization thanks to successful presentations on previous EXPO exhibitions and to the work of the Croatian delgate in BIE, Ivica Maricic.
At the presentation, Zeljko Kupresak, the president of the Croatian National Committee for EXPO 2008 and the State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, pointed out that this project had full support of the Croatian government. The Secretary General of BIE, Vicente Gonzalez Loscertales, presented to the guests this international organization, which presently has 140 member states. The Japanese ambassador to Croatia, Tetsuhisa Shirakawa, spoke about the effects that EXPO held in Japan in 2005 had on the relations between Croatia and Japan, particularly stressing 98% increase of the number of Japanese tourists in Croatia after the World Exhibition. 
The Secretary General of the Spanish government for EXPO 2008 presented to the Croatian public the theme, content and the importance of the World Exhibition for Zaragoza, Spain and the world. 102 countries have confirmed their participation so far and it is expected at least 7,5 million visitors in three months. Besides pavilions of the countries from all over the world, the main attractions will be Torre del agua (Water tower), Pabellón Puente (Pavilion Bridge) designed by the winner of Pritzker award, Zaha Hadid, Acuario fluvial – the largest river aquarium in Europe, etc. The project which will present Croatia on EXPO 2008 was presented by Damir Fabijanic and Marko Dabrovic. It is the project Drop of water: grain of salt authored by Damir Fabijanic, Dalibor Martinis and Studio 3LHD, which presented Croatia on the World Exhibition EXPO 2005 in Aichio, Japan and which will be adapted for the new venue in Zaragoza. Authors stressed that this should not be considered as a repetition but a logical continuation of the original idea.
There was also presented the project of Branko Siladin selected for the Croatian presentation on the World Exhibition EXPO 2010 in Shanghai with the theme Better city, Better life.
In the very end of the presentation, the companies that recognized the importance and the potential of the Croatian presentation on EXPO 2008 signed letters of intention with the purpose of supporting this project. Croatian pavilion will for the first time have a partner from the business sector; in accord with the theme of the exhibition it will be the leading water producer in Croatia – Jamnica. Apart from the partner, letters of intention were signed by the general sponsor Plinacro as well as the golden sponsors, Renault Croatia and Croatian Water Company.
