SHANGHAI, Dec. 23 -- Shanghai plans to encourage entrepreneurs returning from overseas to set up business in the city's new free trade zone (FTZ), an official said on Monday.

The program, a start-up alliance for overseas returnees, means policy incentives for returnees to establish a foothold in the FTZ, according to Huang Weimao, deputy director of the Shanghai bureau of foreign experts affairs.

Shanghai already has a package of policies giving preferential treatment to overseas returnees in terms of residence permits, education for their children and healthcare.

"The free trade zone represents fresh opportunities for returnees to open businesses in China," Huang said, adding that a convention in south China's Guangdong Province last week received over 5,000 inquiries from returnees.

Shanghai is the top destination for overseas returnees, with more than 100,000 currently employed or running businesses in the nation's financial center, statistics from the foreign experts bureau show.

The China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone opened in late September as a sandbox for opening up the service sector and financial reform.