The United Kingdom will provide China 50 million pounds (US$97.76 million) from the British Environmental Transformation Fund to support investment in energy efficiency and renewable resources.

The money will be used to extend the European Union-China near-zero emission coal program and other environmental protection projects, visiting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in Shanghai yesterday.

The announcement came after Brown rounded up his trip in Beijing earlier in the day and arrived in Shanghai for the second leg of his three-day China visit.

"We (China and Britain) have entered a new era where there's a higher level of dialogue and cooperation," Brown told a press conference after meeting Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng yesterday.

"Today I want to mention that the higher level of cooperation is now existing," Brown said.

"Two countries will lead the world in creating eco-cities ... that is, China and Britain."

After signing an agreement on clean-energy development in Beijing on Friday, in Shanghai yesterday Brown also witnessed the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding for British and Chinese companies to develop a funding model for eco-cities in China.

The Shanghai Industrial Investment Corporation, one of China's largest property developers, contracted Arup, a UK-based global design engineering and business consulting firm, to design a sustainable development model for Dongtan, the eco-city on Chongming Island.

Designed to hold a population of up to 10,000 by 2010, Dongtan is expected to demonstrate a sustainable town that runs on renewable energy. This includes its buildings, infrastructure and transport needs.

About 90 percent of all waste in the eco-city will be recovered, recycled or reused, with the eventual aim of becoming a zero-waste city, project managers said.

SIIC and Arup, together with HSBC and Sustainable Development Capital LLP, also agreed to set up the Dongtan Institute for Sustainability in Tongji University for research into the eco-city.

Also yesterday, Brown formally handed over the UK's Shanghai Expo 2010 participation document to Mayor Han - an event which marked the official acceptance by Britain of the invitation to participate in the Expo.

He said visitors to the 2010 World Expo might be amazed by the innovative and visually attractive design of the British Pavilion. But they are sure to be even more excited when seeing exhibits that British firms display.

During his one-day visit to the city, Brown also met Shanghai Party Secretary Yu Zhengsheng, dropped in to the Shanghai Museum and the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall and watched the Shanghai Cerebral Palsy Football Team train.

(Shanghai Daily January 20, 2008)