In a meeting with Shanghai Party chief Yu Zhengsheng, Brown hailed Shanghai's remarkable economic achievements and said he looks forward to the success of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.

    Yu, secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, said Shanghai is developing itself towards an international center of economy, finance, trade and shipping, and a socialist modernized international metropolis.

    He welcomed British enterprises to invest in Shanghai.

    Brown also met with Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng. The two exchanged contract texts on Britain's participation in the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, and attended the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding within the China-Britain project on building the Dongtan Eco-city in Shanghai's Chongming Island, the world's first eco-city.

    The Dongtan Eco-city, with an initial area of 12.3 square kilometers, will consist of three small towns, able to accommodate 80,000 people. The eco-city is designed to provide 27 square meters of green land per capita on average.

    The memorandum, signed by Shanghai Industrial Investment (Holdings) Co., Ltd., Tongji University, Britain's Arup, HSBC and SDCL, covers the design, implementation and financing of the Dongtan Eco-city project.

    At a press conference following Brown's meetings with Shanghai officials, Brown said the Dongtan project shows that Britain and China are entering a higher-level cooperation in the fields of science, culture and especially in environmental protection.

    He said Britain will transfer environmental protection technologies to China through the Dongtan project, noting he also hoped the technologies will also help China in its development in other areas.

    He said that Britain is going to build 10 eco-cities before 2020 and will provide tens of millions pounds of financial support in this regard. Brown said the eco-city projects will lead world research in reducing carbon discharge, effective traffic and developing substitute energy.

    At the press conference, Brown also expressed his confidence that the 2010 Shanghai World Expo will be a success.

    During Brown's stay in Shanghai, another memorandum was also signed between the Shanghai Museum and the British Museum on holding exhibitions in each other's countries, exchanges of personnel and technology share.

    Brown arrived in Beijing Friday morning for a three-day official visit to China, his first China tour since assuming office last June.

    He will leave Shanghai Sunday morning, concluding his China tour.