EXPO-2017 an amazing place - Dr Walter Steinmann

The ex-Director of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy and now President of the Association European Energy Award who was checking out Astana EXPO-2017 pavilions this weekend kindly shared his impressions of the exhibition with Kazinform correspondent.

"I think EXPO-2017 is an amazing place. We can see and learn a lot," Dr Steinmann said, adding that he was very surprised to see Kazakhstan's pavilion that has a very good presentation.

When asked about what pavilions especially caught his attention, Dr Steinmann named Germany, the UK, China and Russia.

He said: "The German one is a typical German. They tell the world how they all should go, because Germany knows what we have to do in the future. The second one for me is the UK. They have very impressive pavilion with a lot of new design and new IT instrument. The third one is, I think, China. It's very impressive what they do. And, then, of course Russia with its iceberg."

Dr Steinmann noted that it was his first trip to Kazakhstan, but he had already managed to visit Almaty and Astana. The ex-Director of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy added that both cities remind him of Abu Dhabi and Doha because of myriads of skyscrapers.

Dr Walter Steinmann is in Astana to attend and speak at the forum Energy Efficiency in the City. Urban Planning, Construction and Transport set to be held at the Congress Center as part of the Future Energy Forum in Astana on July 31 and August 1.

He was director of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy from 2001 to 2016. During that time he also served as member of the Governing Board of the International Energy Agency IEA in Paris and of the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA in Vienna.

By Tatyana Kudrenok