Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the Forum 2006 Expo 2010 Shanghai China.

Shanghai Daily News

Shanghai is eager to learn from the experiences of other cities which have held a World Expo, Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng told an Expo forum today.

Han, who is also the acting Party chief of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, said preparations for Expo are going smoothly with the support and help of the Bureau of International Expositions.

Seventy-seven countries, regions and organisations have accepted the city's invitation to 2010 World Expo, he told the 2006 Forum - 2010 World Expo, which was held today in Shanghai.

The annual Expo forum offers a good communication platform for Shanghai to learn from others, Han said.

He said the theme is the soul of an Expo, so it is the most important task to interpret a theme well. The forum invited experts and officials to share their wisdom and contribute to the Expo.

The theme for Expo 2010 is "Better City, Better Life."

More than 150 experts from home and abroad attended the forum, including Mayor of Zaragoza, Juan Alberto Belloch; renowned French architect Jean-Marie Charpentier; Sasskia Sassen, a professor of sociology at the University of Chicago; and Sun Liping, Tsinghua University's professor of sociology.