Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin will arrive in Shanghai this evening to start a five-day visit.

Hau, together with his delegation, will attend the signing ceremony of Taipei's participation contract at World Expo 2010 on Thursday.

He will also meet Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng before the contract signing ceremony to discuss possible opportunities between the two cities.

Taipei was invited by the expo committee to exhibit its efforts in building a wireless city and promoting recycling -- part of the expo's Urban Best Practice Area.

Hau, who used to visit Shanghai as secretary of the Taiwan Red Cross, will also drop into the Shanghai Red Cross to check donations for earthquake-ravaged Sichuan Province tomorrow afternoon.

He will also visit the Expo site, Hongqiao Transport hub as well as the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall, Xintiandi and Shanghai Wild Animal Park.

Seminars to seek further cooperation between the cities' tourism industries are also scheduled in the following two days.

The Taipei mayor is also scheduled to take the Maglev to Pudong International Airport before leaving the city on Friday.

It is Hau's third visit to the mainland. He visited his home town of Yancheng City in Jiangsu Province in 1990 and discussed Red Cross cooperation in Shanghai in 2004.

(Shanghai Daily June 23, 2008)