German newspapers like Bild and racy Italian magazines may be available in Shanghai this summer as Expo organizers consider lifting the curbs on foreign publications during the six-month-long cultural gala.
Scores of the 192 countries that will join the Expo have already given their tacit backing to the lifting of the ban as they aim to promote their respective pavilions or culture through their national media, which they would like to see on sale in the host city.
Their response came after Zhu Yonglei, deputy director-general with the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, said last month that proposals would be sent out soon to gauge the level of interest from participating countries and Expo tourists.
"We would appreciate it very much if all materials related to the activity of the Italian pavilion could be available to Chinese, international and Italian visitors in Shanghai," the country's Expo team told China Daily.
"We are confident that the Expo bureau will identify the appropriate solution."
A similar easing of restrictions took place in Beijing during the 2008 Olympics, when 100 overseas publications hit news kiosks located in areas catering to athletes and international media covering the Games in the Chinese capital.
Germany, which hosted the 2000 Hanover Expo, is looking to import its newspapers after seeing the positive response to hand out free copies of the FAZ (Frankfurt General Newspaper) during the 2005 Aichi Expo in Japan.
Dietmar Schmitz, Germany's commissioner general to the 2010 Expo, said he hopes to do the same this year.
"Germany is very much satisfied with the preparatory work for Expo 2010 and we look back on a very fruitful cooperation with our partners from the Expo bureau," he said.
"I am very much confident that in this matter the Expo organizers will also find a satisfying solution."
