Shanghai Companies Aim to Join World's Top 500China's leading industrial and commercial city of Shanghai has decided to help some local companies join the world's top 500 corporations over the next five years.Huang Qifan, director of the Shanghai Municipal Economic Commission, said that these companies will come from the six major industries such as information technology, automobiles, petrochemicals, steel products, machinery and electronics products, and bio-pharmaceuticals. According to Huang, the Shanghai Baoshan Iron and Steel Group, China's largest iron and steel producer, the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, and the Shanghai Guangdian Group are likely to be the first Shanghai companies among the world's top 500. Huang said that Shanghai aims to become an international economic center and having a footing in the world's top 500 will be a symbol of that. Official statistics indicate that Shanghai Baoshan's annual sales will hit 70 billion yuan this year while the figure for Shanghai Guangdian will top 30 billion yuan. Combined annual sales of the six major industries account for two thirds of the city's total of more than 500 billion yuan. |
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