Beijing CBD (Photo courtesy of Beijing CBD Administrative Committee) 

The number of foreign-funded companies in the Beijing Central Business District (CBD) has reached 10,000 for two years in a row, said Guo Liang, deputy director of the Beijing CBD Administrative Committee.

Among all the foreign companies, 86 companies have set up regional headquarters here, Guo added.

Last July, US electric carmaker Tesla announced to construct its Beijing sci-tech innovation center in the area, which is the first and also the headquarters in China, Ren Yuxiang, Tesla’s vice president of Asia-Pacific, told People’s Daily Overseas Edition.

After three decades’ fast development, the Beijing CBD has leaped into the top ten business districts around the globe. Three CBDs from China were listed in the world’s top seventeen and the Beijing CBD was one of them, according to a report on the attractiveness of the major global CBDs released in 2017 by World Central Business District Network.

By the end of December 2018, another 681 foreign-funded companies had registered in the area, according to the official data. A total of 366 new foreign-funded projects were set up, bringing in a contractual foreign capital worth $1.46 billion.

In 2018, foreign enterprises in Beijing CBD contributed almost 60 billion yuan to the city’s tax revenue and played as a main driver for the CBD’s economic development.

China’s CBDs have maintained fine development since the 1980s when China started to construct CBDs, an insider noted. With advanced infrastructure, convenient transportation and sound business environment, these areas have attracted a large amount of global investment, technology as well as talent.

Michael Edwards, President and CEO of Chicago Loop Alliance, said that the most important thing for a business district to maintain its competitiveness is to attract and retain talents, and such features as easy access to markets, customers, and business partners, cost-effective office space, and sound urban environments.

The Beijing CBD has mapped out a three-year action plan, aiming to attract more high-quality firms through reform and further opening. Grant programs were launched, such as the Phoenix Plan by Chaoyang district in Beijing, to help highly qualified overseas professionals and foreign companies settle here.

In the future, Beijing CBD will learn from London, New York and Tokyo and build itself into a world-class business area, said Deputy Director Guo.

By 2020, the Beijing CBD is expected to become one of the centers for economic operation in the Asia-Pacific region, a hub for global economic resources and a platform for international exchanges in economy and culture, according to global accounting and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC).