Mr Zhou, who was touring the events at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre as part of a flying VIP visit, said the three areas of focus for the event – materials handling, hydraulic and control devices, and banking and information security – were considered “most important” issues that were on top of the Government agenda.

As one of the most senior politicians in Shanghai, Mr Zhou has a long history of involvement with the trade fairs, and in his previous role of “Lord Vice-Mayor” in Shanghai had been in charge of the original approval for building the SNIEC facility.

“The exhibition centre SNIEC was an investment by Deutsche Messe AG, Messe Munich and Messe Dusseldorf and it was supervised and approved by me when I was Lord Vice-Mayor of Shanghai,” Mr Zhou said.

“During my time in that office I was in charge of the Pudong New Area developments,” he said.

“It was always my dream that we have friends like the Hannover people to bring the world’s advanced industrial shows and CeBIT to this fairground.”

The exhibition centre, although already impressive, was only half-way finished. While there are nine exhibition halls and two more under construction, Mr Zhou said the Government had always planned for 17 halls to be constructed.

The ongoing construction would give the events plenty of room to grow in future years, he said.

“I have a particular interest in all three areas of the show … in the materials handling part, the hydraulic and control part, and the banking and information security part,” Mr Zhou said.

“These are the most important issues on top of the Government agenda … that’s why I am here,” he said.