scene of the signing ceremony

Zhong Yanqun, fulltime deputy director of the World Expo 2010 Shanghai Executive Committee

Shanghai Expo organizers yesterday signed the first insurance deal for construction project safety with the event's partner, PICC Property and Casualty Co Ltd.

Fifty-eight-year-old PICC P&C, the largest non-life insurer in China, now provides insurance protection and risk assessment for Shanghai World Expo 2010.

Signing the first insurance deal signifies Expo's main construction project has been fully covered by the insurance system of PICC, organizers said.

PICC will provide a "safety net" to the event and help organizers ensure Expo construction projects have "no accident, no injury and no complaint," organizers said.

The company has been working on the insurance protection plan for the six-month event since Shanghai won the bid to host Expo 2010.

PICC, also a global partner of the Beijing Olympics 2008, signed in as the ninth global partner of Shanghai Expo on December 26, 2007.

The company has also confirmed a corporate pavilion in the Expo site. Shanghai Expo will have 16 corporate pavilions, nine of which will be built by domestic companies.