The Teachings of Expo 2015

Its seat was chosen at a world level, with Milan intelligently sending off the proposal to dedicate the exhibition to the specific theme of “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life”. A multitude of visitors is expected because all the countries involved are committed to confronting this essential problem that concerns all humankind.

In the international climate we are about to experience, this great event may lead us to contemplating and even regaining our optimism. Each one will be able to participate in a wide-ranging, sensible, and practical dialogue on the most advanced techniques available to increase production, optimize resource use, and preserve the renewable biosphere of areas under cultivation. But Expo 2015 is also a huge investment that may provide various general and strategic benefits (beginning with tourism) and help spread hope. Therefore, we must avoid its being used mainly as a self-promotional tool and an overbearing showcase of the best products, forgetting that Expo’s intentions are not to present more agreeable foods that have been produced to appeal to gourmet consumers and food lovers.

It will certainly be appropriate and useful to also explore more thoroughly such food-related issues as quality, nutrition, and health. We trust that the event will not be manipulated by introducing other ideological or demagogical objectives that, even if camouflaged, would be out of place. We hope this Expo will not be just some vanity fair in search of markets and profits, but that it will carry on the important mission with which it has been entrusted and will not disappoint the great expectations of the entire planet.

The expected final draft of the “Milan Charter” will have to be a sage document, reflecting the work carried out in focusing on and analyzing the concrete capabilities of eliminating hunger in the future. More than the formal and aesthetic appraisals that will circulate during and after Expo, we hope that the heartfelt considerations and judgments that the participants will personally make may be maintained once home if they put into practice what they have seen and learnt in Italy.