Shanghai to lure multinationals

'Four Centers' plan to confirm status as international city and regional hub

Shanghai is expected to attract 150 more foreign multinationals' regional headquarters by 2020 — in addition to the 403 today — as it also works to nurture more domestic multinationals, Acting Mayor Yang Xiong said in the Report on the Work of the Government at the first session of the 14th Shanghai Municipal People's Congress on Sunday.

Transforming the city into the international economic, financial, trading and shipping centers ("Four Centers") has been the focal point of Shanghai's 12th Five-Year Plan as it pursues innovation-driven economic transformation.

Yang pointed out "openness represents Shanghai's biggest advantage" in moving the international goal forward.

The city's major objectives for the next five years are to become a world-renowned base for service trade and a major import-export hub.

"The report turned out to be more practical and pragmatic compared with previous years by having fewer overly detailed targets, but more attainable tasks with examples to make sure the city has the potential to achieve them," said Li Xunlei, a deputy to the Shanghai People's Congress and deputy CEO and chief economist of Haitong Securities Co Ltd in Shanghai.

"The city is opening up to welcome more foreign investors to advance the economic development of Shanghai and quickly turn it into a global trading center," said Huang Renwei, a deputy to the Shanghai People's Congress and vice-president of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.