The United Kingdom pavilion for the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai from May 1 to Oct. 31 will be completed at the end of March, organizers told Xinhua Monday.

Earlier Monday, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband pushed in the final acrylic pole for the facade of the Seed Cathedral, the centerpiece of the pavilion at the Expo site.

The move signaled the end of the construction of the exterior structure of the pavilion.

Miliband said the UK would take the advantage of the World Expo Shanghai to display its most positive aspects, involving sustainable development, innovation and concepts of opening and tolerance.

He said mutual respect existed between the governments and people of the two nations. "We don't pretend we agree on everything, but we are trying to understand each other better," he said.

Miliband said the World Expo would be a good platform for Britain and China to discuss economic issues and to promote cooperation and understanding in trade, education, science and culture.

Ding Jie, project manager of the British pavilion construction company, Jiangsu Suzhong Construction Group, based in eastern China's Jiangsu Province, said Monday that after a year of efforts, Chinese engineers and construction workers had surmounted difficulties in the heavy wooden structure and waterproof and windproof technologies to build the pavilion in line with conceptual design.

The 20-meter-high, dandelion-like pavilion is equipped with 60,686 acrylic poles with a cube-shaped wooden structure as the core. The pavilion is also known as the Seed Cathedral since one seed is encased in every 7.5-meter acrylic pole.

According to Miliband, after the Expo, all of the seed-encased acrylic poles would be given to China as a symbol for continuation of friendship between Britain and China.

The British pavilion would be completed at the end of this month after artificial turf was laid.

(Xinhua March 16, 2010)

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