Visiting Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong expressed admiration for Shanghai's rapid development Saturday evening at his meeting with Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng.

Lee said that Shanghai's rapid development inspired Singapore to learn more from others in the economic globalization era.

Lee arrived in Shanghai Saturday noon for his two-day visit to Shanghai and Suzhou, a scenic city in east China's Jiangsu Province.

Lee told the Shanghai mayor that he has come to know how Shanghai to deal with problems it encountered in the time full of challenges.

Han Zheng said that Shanghai also had learned a lot from Singapore thanks to its special and close ties with Singapore, adding that Shanghai is China's first city to implement the housing accumulation fund system which was introduced from Singapore.

Currently, about 5000 Shanghai people are studying or working in Singapore while enterprises of both sides participate increasingly more in each other's economic and social development, Han said.

Trade between Shanghai and Singapore reached 3 billion US dollars in 2003, a sharp rise of 60 percent over the previous year.

"It is a wonder," Han said, "showing the great cooperative potential between the two sides."

Lee is on a six-day China visit at the invitation of Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi.

(Xinhua News Agency May 15, 2004)