A $30 million investment in China's Shanghai Expo is to get its moment in the spotlight.

Prime Minister John Key will attend New Zealand's national day at the expo today, as part of his Asian tour. The expo, which was eight years in the making and cost the Chinese Government more than NZ$70 billion, has been running since May. There are 189 countries represented and each gets a day to take centre stage.

"Seven million people are expected to come through our pavilion," Mr Key said. "We've invested a lot of money there so it's important that we use New Zealand Day to highlight what's happening in New Zealand and the opportunities."

Shanghai magazine The Bund has rated New Zealand's pavilion among the top 16 to see.

Mr Key, who is on his second trip to China as prime minister, continued a push yesterday to develop ties between the two countries.

He visited Air New Zealand's Shanghai office and dropped in at New Zealand Central, a business hospitality centre he opened last year.

About 6000 business people from New Zealand have booked the centre to introduce themselves to Chinese clients since it was opened in April last year.

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Source: John Hartevelt, The Dominion Post, www.stuff.co.nz