The visiting U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez said in Shanghai on Nov.15 that he hoped to see more U.S. enterprises to participate in the Shanghai World Expo and more U.S. citizens to know about China through the event.

   Gutierrez made the remarks in a meeting with Han Zheng, acting Party chief and mayor of Shanghai.

   Han said there has been a special tradition and connection between Shanghai and the United States since some world-famous U.S. companies were first established in the commercial municipality.

   Those companies might still found their birth places in the western-style architectures spotting around Shanghai, said Han.

   Han stressed as the interim period for China's accession into the World Trade Organization will end, his municipality will stick to the opening-up policy and create more business opportunities for U.S. companies.

   Gutierrez said the Chinese leaders and he had reached consensus on further developing China-U.S. economic and trade relations by increasing U.S. exports to China rather than slashing down China's exports to the U.S.

   Over 20 U.S. entrepreneurs also followed Gutierrez in the Shanghai visit. They expressed hope to expand businesses in energy, software, medical facilities, nuclear power, architectural design, telecommunications and insurance in Shanghai.

    Statistics show that Shanghai has so far approved more than 40,000 foreign-funded projects, with a total investment of 60 billion U.S. dollars, of which the U.S. investment constitutes a big part.