World Expo Shanghai organisers must work harder in accordance with the directions of the central government and speed up the preparation work for the event, Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng said during the fifth executive committee meeting in Shanghai on May 21.

Han said hosting the Expo is China's significant strategic task as well as Shanghai's foremost mission during the 11th Five-Year-Plan period (2006-2010). President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have also urged the organisers to host a successful Expo.

We should push the preparations for the Expo into a new phase and accept the high responsibility given to us by the leadership of the central government, state council and the organizing committee.

Han emphasised that preparations for the event had entered a new crucial phase. The city had to share the opportunities presented by hosting the Expo with neighboring provinces and to work efficiently according to the schedule laid down and to ensure that the quality of the work was high.

Shanghai Vice-mayor, Yang Xiong, the executive deputy director of the Executive Committee of the World Expo 2010 Shanghai, Zhang Xuebing and Zhong Yanqun,Standing Deputy Directors of the Shanghai Expo Executive Committee, and Hua Junduo, China's Commissioner-General for Shanghai Expo attended the meeting.

So far, 142 countries and international organisations have confirmed their participation in World Expo 2010. The construction of the Expo Village, Expo Administration Center and Expo Park have started.

The organisers will concentrate on attracting more participants and push site construction and theme development as next phases of the preparation work.