Veolia Environment of France, the world's No. 1 environment service provider, will take Shanghai as its strategic priority market, Henri Proglio, president and chief executive officer of the company, said here Saturday.

While meeting with Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng, Proglio expressed the hope that the company could have more cooperation opportunities in Shanghai, one of China's economic powerhouses.

Ranking the 128th on the Fortune Top 500 list, Veolia Environment has an annual business turnover of 35.7 billion US dollars. Its investment in China exceeds 1 billion US dollars.

Proglio said the company was fully aware of China's status in the world economy. All of its four major subsidiaries in water treatment, waste disposal, energy service and public transportation had opened representative offices in Shanghai. The solid waste disposal subsidiary had already moved its Asia-Pacificheadquarters to the city.

Han said he hoped the environment service giant would help Shanghai resolve problems in environment technologies and urban transportation. Proglio said the company was ready to bring the state-of-the-art technologies to the city.

The company won a contract for water supply and management in Pudong New District in 2002.

Proglio also serves as president of the Committee of Honor of the French Year in China. He will attend a series of cultural exchanges held by the committee during his stay in Shanghai.

Source: Xinhua