The delegation visits the master plan exhibition hall in the Expo Mansion.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (right two), Xi Jinping (right one), Party secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng (left two) and Shanghai Vice Mayor Yang Xiong (left one), watch the master plan of the Expo Site.

The delegation hears the introduction of the master plan of the Expo Site.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao today took a trip to the World Expo 2010 Site in his three-day visit in Shanghai.

Wen visited the master plan exhibition hall in the Expo Mansion and had a bird's eye view of the site atop the building.

Wen said World Expo is very important to Shanghai. Great changes which had taken place in the city should be shown to the World through the Expo.

World Expo is an economic Olympics, Wen said. Shanghai should seize the opportunity to propel the city's development into an international economic, financial, trade and shipping center.

Wen noted that under the theme "Better City, Better Life," organisers should consider city's long term development when hosting the World Expo and deal with the relationship between urban construction and better living condition to improve the life quality of local residents.

He urged Expo organizers to embrace the concepts of energy efficiency, pollution reduction, environmental protection and sustainable development in designing and building exhibition venues.

Scheduled May 1 to October 31, Expo Shanghai is expected to attract more than 200 participants and 70 million visitors in 2010.

The premier also visited Tongji University, which is celebrating its centennial anniversary this year.

Wen viewed innovative technologies designed by the students, including an electric-powered auto and sewage treatment devices.

Wen praised a plan drafted by Tongji students to improve the environment in agricultural communities.

China has pledged to develop modern agriculture and promote the building of a "new socialist countryside."

The government will spend 391.7 billion yuan (US$50.58 billion) on agriculture, rural areas and farmers this year, Wen said in a government work report to the annual session of the National People's Congress in March.