Jane Chen / Shanghai Daily news

A delegation from New Orleans will purchase up to US$1 billion of products and services in Shanghai early next year as part of its program to reconstruct the hurricane-shattered city, today's Shanghai Morning Post reported.
The report, citing officials from the Shanghai International Merchandising Center, said the local center has arranged the purchasing fair after contacting the US city's reconstruction commission last month.  As planned, a group of New Orleans government institutions, business associations and enterprises will hold the fair from January 16 to 18 at ShanghaiMart.
The center has started to recommend local qualified building materials and furnishing suppliers to the US buyers. 
On the US side, New Orleans will send a small group to Shanghai next month in advance of the fair.
The city was hit by Hurricane Katrina on August 29, leaving hundreds of people dead and nearly 1 million displaced, and causing billions of dollars in economic losses.
The US Congress has provided more than US$60 billion to rebuild devastated areas along the Gulf Coast encompassing parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.