Shanghai Week kicks off at Expo Milano.[Photo/Xinhua]

Cooperation events attended by Chinese and Western specialists but also a variety of art performances will animate the Milan world exposition for five days starting from Tuesday, when the Shanghai Week kicked off here at the site.

"The Shanghai Week will focus on the theme 'Agriculture supports the city, the city makes agriculture more effective,'" Li Yiping, Secretary General of the Shanghai Municipal Government, said in his address to the opening ceremony.

Li wished that the intense program will contribute to deepen bilateral knowledge and collaboration especially in the sectors related to the Expo's theme dedicated to sustainable agriculture and healthy food for all.

"The presence of the Shanghai delegation is of utmost importance for us today," Stefano Gatti, General Manager Participants and Director General Pavilion of Italy at Expo Milano 2015, said.

"My team was at the Shanghai Expo 2010, which was one of the most successful expos of history, and I can say that we learnt a lot from the experience of collaboration we had with the Chinese world exposition," he said.

"Milan and Shanghai have enjoyed deep relations for a very long time, they are twin cities. Milan is for Italy what Shanghai is for China, they are not capital cities but they are very vibrant and modern, so we feel a lot of resemblance," Gatti pointed out.

"The relations between Italy and China are taking off. We are catching up some lost time and this is the best way to do it," Consul General of Italy in Shanghai Stefano Beltrame said, adding that the original Silk Road was connecting China with Italy.