Shanghai has the right conditions to build a Disney theme park, and the city is making preparations for the project, Mayor Han Zheng said Tuesday.

"Shanghai has been hoping to build a Disney park for a long time," Han told reporters during the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature.

However, the mayor said, the construction of the project has to obtain permission from the State Council, or the central government.

Han said Shanghai expects to have cooperation rather than competition with Hong Kong, where a Disneyland was newly opened.

The mayor said Shanghai and Hong Kong saw smooth cooperation in recent years under the framework of Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), a mechanism designed to boost cooperation between the Chinese mainland and the two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao.

Disney spokeswoman Alannah Goss said earlier that the company was talking with Shanghai about building a park in the city.

(Xinhua News Agency March 8, 2006)