French president praises World Expo theme

PARIS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday described this year's World Expo theme of "Better City, Better Life" as a bold and lucid choice focused on a significant challenge for the future.

The president is scheduled to visit China on April 28-30 with stops at Xi'an, Beijing and Shanghai, where the exposition will be held from May 1 to October 31.

"Taking the theme 'Better City, Better Life', you have chosen to make the 2010 Shanghai Expo an event resolutely focused toward the future," Sarkozy told Xinhua in an interview.

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He said, while the number of city dwellers continued to grow across the world and issues related to urban development became more and more significant, many problems needed to be solved. So China's choice of "Better City, Better Life" was appropriate.

"I pay tribute to the organizers of the 2010 Shanghai Expo who have made a lucid and bold choice," he said.

Sarkozy said France was one of the firm supporters of Shanghai's candidacy for the exposition and was the first country to have promised to participate in the event.

"The choice of China and the choice of Shanghai, were something very important for us; that is the reason why I wanted to personally attend the opening ceremony," he said.

The president said China has made great efforts to make the expo "a huge success."

Sarkozy said the design and display in the France pavilion would reflect a real, colorful, confident and open France.