Shanghai Party Secretary Chen Liangyu met with representatives from local trading companies yesterday to encourage them to travel abroad to find business deals and minimize the losses caused by SARS.
"The 'going out' strategy is imperative during the current situation," Chen said. "Please tell foreign clients that SARS is under control in Shanghai."
Thirteen local trading companies have organized 20 delegations to travel abroad in May or June to seek business deals, according to the Shanghai Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Commission.
Orient International Enterprise Ltd, which exports textile products, said five members of its staff are preparing for a June trip to the United States.
Local health officials, meanwhile, are still searching for two men who arrived in the city on the same train with the city's most recent SARS patient. Authorities said the men gave fake names and addresses to officials at the train station upon their arrival in the city.
One new suspected SARS case was reported in the city yesterday, but there are no new confirmed cases.
Also yesterday, a two-member team from the World Health Organization inspected Shanghai's two airports and railway station. The experts, who will make proposals to WHO regarding the lifting of travel warnings to China, studied quarantine and health declaration procedures and the treatment of passengers with a fever or cough.
Hilary Pereira, a public health policy expert from Britain and an interim adviser to the WHO, and her colleague identified as Lin also visited a foreign vessel in Shanghai to learn about the SARS prevention measures they have taken.
Before arriving in Shanghai on Monday, the two experts visited an airport and a railway station in Beijing. They will leave Shanghai today.
(eastday.com May 28, 2003)
