By hosting such a meeting attended by APEC ministers responsible for trade (MRT), Shanghai will show how eager it is to strengthen its economic ties with APEC members, said vice-mayor Jiang Yiren here on Saturday.

"The Shanghai event will be a good opportunity to showcase China's development achievements to the world," noted Jiang, who represents China's largest economic powerhouse.

It is also a warm-up exercise for other APEC conferences which will be held in the city later this year, Jiang said.

Shanghai will host a series of important APEC events, including the APEC informal leadership meeting and the 13th APEC ministerial meeting, both in October, as well as a meeting of APEC ministers of small and medium enterprises (SME) in August.

More than 3 million square metres of buildings have been refurbished and more than 100 local roads have undergone renovation. Around 2.1 million pots of flowers have also been added to the city.

So far this year, 548 hectares of parks and green areas covered with trees and flowers have been opened to the public, including the newest green space, the 62.4-hectare Huangxing Park, which opened last week in the city's northeast.

Related local sectors, including customs, airports, tourism agencies and hotels, have been preparing to ensure they are ready for the event this week.

And more than 300,000 volumes of an English pamphlet, "learn English 100 to welcome APEC," have been snapped up by local citizens, while 90 per cent of more than 100,000 local people have passed the "English 100" oral test since last June. This is thanks to 3,500 volunteer teachers chosen from 20,000 students from local universities.

Statistics from the Shanghai Municipal Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Commission indicate that the import and export trade between of Shanghai and APEC countries hit US$40.9 billion in 2000, up 124 per cent on 1999.

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