Capital aims for Olympic success ( 2003-07-14 09:19) (China Daily)
Beijing Vice-Mayor Liu Jingmin said the Chinese capital will honour its
commitments to organize the best ever Olympic Games in 2008.
People run past Tian'anmen
Square in Beijing July 13, 2003 to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of
Beijing's successful bid for the 2008 Olympic
Games.
"Of course it needs our continuous
efforts in the following five years," said Liu, who is also the executive
vice-president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX
Olympiad (BOCOG), in an interview.
Liu said during the preparations for the Games, Beijing has done its work in
various aspects ahead of schedule.
When talking about the long-awaited marketing plan, the vice-mayor said the
plan will be unveiled in early September. BOCOG has signed the Marketing Plan
Agreement with the IOC.
Liu said he is quite optimistic that profits will be made as a result of
hosting the 2008 Olympic Games.
Except for the current eight sponsors of the Olympic Partner (TOP) programme
for the 2008 Games, which are all foreign enterprises, Chinese companies are
expected to have chances to be involved through negotiations with IOC, according
to Liu.
Former Olympic table tennis champion Deng Yaping joins in
the celebrations in Beijing.
He said: "Many Chinese enterprises have become global brands, even leading
ones in their field." But he did not give the name list of the possible Chinese
TOP sponsors.
TOP sponsors need to inject at least US$40 million into supporting the games,
according to Liu.
He predicted the amount of TOP sponsors for the Beijing Games will reach 11
or 12 while the average figure for the previous Summer Olympics was 10.
Many Chinese enterprises have also expressed their intention to take part in
the national partner programme, Liu said, but, as no agreement has yet been
made, he did not reveal the identity of these firms.
A total of US$1.2 billion of the BOCOG operational budget is expected to be
raised from the marketing programme, according to sources at the organizing
committee.
Liu stressed Beijing will definitely guarantee public health security during
the 2008 Olympic Games, learning lessons from the recent fight against SARS.
"A working system will be established within BOCOG to make the people
involved in the Games and the numerous tourists epidemic-free," he said.
"Preparatory work for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games has not been influenced by
the SARS situation in Beijing."
The plan to start building the four Olympic venues, including the National
Stadium and the National Swimming Centre, by the end of this year will be
carried out on time," he said.
"Only the schedule for some foreign-related activities was changed due to
SARS," Liu said.
For example, the official presentation of the emblem for the games, which was
originally scheduled to take place in May, will now go ahead next month. The
launch of the marketing plan was postponed to September from June.
During the interview, Liu also said that auditing will be conducted once
every six months
