Rabobank signs exhibitor agreement for Floriade 2012

Rabobank signs exhibitor agreement for Floriade 2012

A Rabobank delegation paid a working visit to Floriade Park on Friday, making a special stop-off at their own pavilion, Rabo Earthwalk. Building work on the anticipated crowd-puller at Floriade 2012 got under way some months ago, reaching its high point this week.
Following the tour, Paul Dirken, Director of Business Banking at Rabobank Nederland, and Paul Beck, Managing Director of Floriade 2012, signed the official exhibitor agreement.

Floriade 2012 and Rabobank have been working closely together for many years. In 2008 Rabobank took over as the official founder (main sponsor) of Floriade. Last year the bank announced it would also be submitting an entry to the World Horticultural Expo. Now the pavilion, a half globe with a massive 20 metre diameter, is rising up right on the water’s edge in the Environment theme world. Visitors to Floriade will walk upwards along the outside wall of the globe, ending up on the roof of the world, where a very special experience awaits them.

The Rabo Earthwalk will be a real attraction, giving visitors a unique perspective on the many global flows bringing us what we need for our daily lives. The film tells the story of how man is cultivating the earth and how vital flows of food, water, transport, data and, of course, finance, arise in the landscape and move constantly round the globe.

Besides the spectacular film, so-called ‘glocalizers’ will play a key role: enterprising people with courage and ambition who have implemented local initiatives with a global impact. These ‘glocalizers’ use their initiatives to make the world a better, more prosperous and more sustainable place. And they do so in an appealing and successful way. Visitors will get to know ten glocalizers altogether on four different levels. After visiting the Rabo Earthwalk visitors can make a short movie of themselves which they can post on social media to tell their families and friends that they have ‘walked across the roof of the world’.

Paul Beck, Managing Director of Floriade 2012, expects Rabobank’s entry to be one of the crowd-pullers at Floriade. “The pavilion is a perfect fit for this Floriade. With its unique design it will definitely be one of the eye-catchers in Floriade Park. The Rabo Earthwalk combines education, social involvement and innovation, and presents it to visitors via a spectacular experience the like of which has never been seen before.”

Building work on the Rabo Earthwalk will be completed over the coming months.
Click here to watch a video on the construction of the Rabo Earthwalk.

At least 7,000 visitors a day will be able to visit the Rabobank pavilion during Floriade.