Hangzhou West Lake International Expo organizers tried to learn from Expo 2010 Shanghai through an experience sharing forum yesterday at Ocean Hotel Shanghai.

The forum was aimed to expand Hangzhou's ties with Expo 2010 service providers in Shanghai and promote experience exchange between conference and exhibition companies in Shanghai and Hangzhou. The Hangzhou participants hope that the experiences and ideas they had collected at the forum would improve the service of the West Lake International Expo, which is due to open from October 16 to November 6.

During the forum, Hangzhou Deputy Mayor Zhang Jianting introduced the history of the West Lake International Expo. He said that Hangzhou is like a "back garden of Shanghai" and traveling from Shanghai to Hangzhou will take only 38 minutes after the Shanghai-Hangzhou high speed rail opens to traffic.

Hangzhou will strive to attract tourists visiting Shanghai to Hangzhou after Expo 2010 and share tourism market with Shanghai, Zhang added.

Wu Chenglin, chairman of Shanghai Conference and Exhibition Industry Association stressed cooperation and market sharing among the Yangtze Delta cities.

Conference and exhibition companies from Shanghai and Hangzhou also signed cooperation agreements.

Hangzhou West Lake International Expo is an annual event, which dates back to 1929. In 2009, it attracted 12.9 million visitors.