The month of July was an extremely productive month for the USA Pavilion team. On July 1, Jose H. Villarreal was appointed U.S. Commissioner General to the World Expo 2010 by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. On July 10, Commissioner General Villarreal ended months of speculation that the U.S. might not participate when he signed the official World Expo Shanghai 2010 Participation Agreement at the Shanghai Expo Bureau.

On July 17, the USA Pavilion team held a formal groundbreaking ceremony at the Pavilion site in Pudong. Joining Commissioner General Villarreal and other members of the USA Pavilion team at the ceremony were U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Ma Xiuhong, Shanghai Vice Mayor Yang Xiong, U.S. Consul General Beatrice Camp, and Deputy Chief of Shanghai World Expo Coordination Bureau Huang Jianzhi.

As Commissioner General, Villarreal is responsible for oversight of the USA Pavilion at Expo 2010 and he will also serve as the official U.S. government representative to the Chinese government on issues relating to the World Expo. As a senior advisor to the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Villarreal has a distinguished background in law, business and non-governmental sectors.

Insight recently sat down with the Commissioner General to get his thoughts on the USA Pavilion and the World Expo.
 
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