Porto Alegre, 1/28/2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The III World Social Forum, of 2003, has ended and the Organizing Committee has released information about the event.

It took place in Porto Alegre from January 23 to 27. A total of 100,000 people participated in one way or another. There was a total of 20,763 registered delegates, representing 5,717 organizations from 156 countries.

Credentials were issued to 4,094 journalists who used 1,423 vehicles from 51 countries to cover the event.

There were 1,286 workshops at the forum.

A total of 650 volunteers worked there.

The Youth Camping Site accomodated some 25,000 people. Out of that total, over 19,000 were registered representatives of some 700 groups.

Direct costs of the forum reached almost US$3.5 million, not including accomodations paid for by the city of Porto Alegre.

The organizers estimate that the 100,000 participants spent some US$20 million, but say that total could actually rise to as much as US$50 million. (AB)