The Information Office of Shanghai Municipality held the first press briefing on the series themed “Creating First-class Business Environment and Serving to Build a New Development Pattern” on the morning of today (April 4). Vice Mayor Hua Yuan attended the briefing and introduced the details of the “Several Policies and Measures of Shanghai to Further Stabilize Scale and Improve Quality of Foreign Trade” and the “Several Measures of Shanghai to Step up Efforts to Attract and Utilize Foreign Investment.” Zhu Min, director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, Rong Zhiqin, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, Wei Lu, chief economist of the Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Liu Bo, deputy director of Shanghai Customs, and Yang Chao, deputy chief of Pudong New Area, attended the press briefing and answered questions from reporters.

Shanghai has been resolutely implementing the arrangement by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, while always regarding high-quality foreign trade and foreign investment as the top priority. In recent years, the city has successively unveiled several rounds of policies to stabilize foreign trade and foreign investment, and achieved positive results, further improving its function as a trade hub, and consolidating its status as the preferred choice for foreign investment. In 2022, the city’s total import and export of goods and the actual use of foreign capital both hit record highs. Specifically, the city’s import and export amounted to 4.19 trillion yuan, an increase of 3.2%, exceeding the 4-trillion-yuan benchmark for the second consecutive year. The actual use of foreign capital was US$23.956 billion, stabilizing at a value of more than US$20 billion for the third straight year. Since the beginning of this year, Shanghai’s foreign trade and foreign investment have achieved steady growth, demonstrating strong resilience. From January to February, the city’s import and export of goods was valued at 681.56 billion yuan, an increase of 0.7% on top of a high base and fast growth in the same period last year. The actual use of foreign capital was valued at US$4.961 billion, a rise of 18%. A total of 11 regional headquarters of multinational companies and 5 multinational R&D centers have been newly set up, bringing the total numbers to 902 and 536 respectively.

In order to further consolidate the recovery and growth momentum of foreign trade and foreign investment, actively respond to a variety of challenges under the complex external situations, and continue to promote the high-quality development of foreign trade and foreign investment, Shanghai has formulated the “Several Policies and Measures of Shanghai to Further Stabilize Scale and Improve Quality of Foreign Trade” and the “Several Measures of Shanghai to Step up Efforts to Attract and Utilize Foreign Investment.”

I. Main features of the Policies and Measures

The formulation of these two sets of policies and measures focuses on the full implementation of various policies and measures introduced by the state since last year to stabilize foreign trade and foreign investment, while also taking into consideration the actual situations in Shanghai, by further optimizing policy supply and strengthening system integration. This is mainly reflected in three aspects, which can be summarized as “Three Persists.”

First, the city will persist in fostering high-level opening-up to promote the development of foreign trade and foreign investment. Both policies and measures focus on implementing the national high-level opening-up strategy, giving full play to the roles of Pudong Pioneer Area, Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone, Lingang New Area, Hongqiao International Central Business District and other opening-up platforms, actively benchmarking against high-standard international economic and trade rules, promoting rules-based opening-up and deep-level reform, and driving forward the innovative development of foreign investment and foreign trade with high-level opening-up. Second, the city will persist in achieving high-quality development to facilitate the improvement of foreign trade and foreign investment. Both policies and measures focus on Shanghai’s industrial development priorities, highlight new development trends such as the “3+6 industries”, new growth areas and future-oriented industries, as well as digital transformation and green transformation, attract high-level entities such as headquarters and R&D centers, support foreign trade and foreign-funded enterprises to improve quality and efficiency, accelerate the cultivation of new momentum for development, and strive to achieve effective quality improvement and reasonable quantity growth of foreign trade and foreign investment. Third, the city will persist in optimizing the business environment to enhance services and support for foreign trade and foreign investment. In the process of formulating the two sets of policies and measures, we persisted in a problem-oriented approach and clearly put forward reform measures to optimize the business environment in response to the opinions and suggestions raised by foreign-funded and foreign trade enterprises. The aim is to improve services, effectively help foreign-funded and foreign trade enterprises solve real problems, help enterprises reduce costs and increase efficiency and constantly improve comprehensive competitiveness, so that Chinese and foreign enterprises can have increasingly stabilized expectations, strengthened confidence, and stronger and bigger business presence in Shanghai.

II. Details of the “Several Policies and Measures of Shanghai to Further Stabilize Scale and Improve Quality of Foreign Trade”

The policies and measures to stabilize foreign trade prioritize the aim to stabilize the scale of foreign trade, promote transformation, expand the market, and optimize the environment, with a total of 21 measures in four aspects.

First, the city will stabilize the scale growth of foreign trade with a focus on key enterprises and key products, by offering more support on customs clearance, finance, and tax refunds. For example, the city will support electromechanical and high-tech product enterprises to expand into diversified international markets. Medical devices which are produced locally with imported raw materials and aim for exports will be exempt from the requirement on Chinese labels when entering the special customs supervision area or bonded logistics center. The city will encourage the expansion of imports of key energy minerals and important agricultural products. The Shanghai Branch of the Export-Import Bank of China will set up a special credit line of 10 billion yuan for small and micro enterprises in foreign trade. Sinosure Shanghai Branch will underwrite insurance policies of at least US$50 billion throughout the year.

Second, the city will promote the innovative development of foreign trade by increasing support for innovation, advancing the development of new formats and models, and unleashing new momentum for foreign trade development. For example, the city will accelerate the expansion of the third phase of the Yangshan Special Comprehensive Bonded Zone, and study the expansion of ports that are entitled to the direct release policy at the Yangshan Special Comprehensive Bonded Zone. The city will support enterprises to carry out retail business of imported drugs and medical devices via cross-border e-commerce. The city will accelerate the implementation of the pilot regulatory system where remanufactured products are entitled to the same treatment as imported new products. The city will support banking institutions to settle offshore trade across currencies. The city will actively and steadily carry out bonded bunkering for international navigation ships at anchorages in the city.

Third, the city will support the exploration of diversified markets by taking the in-depth implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) as an opportunity to support enterprises to explore the international market. For example, the city will hold the offline exhibition of the East China Fair, and organize more enterprises to participate in the offline exhibition of the Canton Fair. The city will increase the support in terms of booth fees for enterprises to participate in key exhibitions abroad. The city will step up efforts to cultivate authorized exporters, and guide enterprises to make good use of the facilitation measures on declaration of origin. The city will build a comprehensive service platform for overseas warehouses. The city will encourage cross-border trade in goods to be settled in RMB.

Fourth, the city will optimize the business environment for cross-border trade by increasing the support on foreign trade public services around border and post-border measures. For example, the city will support eligible enterprises to apply for general licenses for specific dual-use items. The city will support the expansion of off-site cargo terminals in the Yangtze River Delta region. The city will support enterprises in responding to overseas IP cases and investigations. The city will expand the scope of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Shanghai Center for Arbitration and Mediation. The city will support overseas arbitration institutions to set up business offices in Shanghai.

III. Details of the “Several Measures of Shanghai to Step up Efforts to Attract and Utilize Foreign Investment”

The several measures to stabilize foreign investment focus on promoting new foreign investment, stabilizing existing foreign investment, and improving their quality, with a total of 20 measures in four aspects.

First, the city will promote high-level opening-up, with a focus on key areas and regions to further bolster opening-up. For example, the city will support foreign securities, funds, futures, life insurance, pension management, wealth management and financial enterprises to take the lead in settling in Shanghai. The city will encourage more eligible international container shipping companies to carry out pilot coastal piggyback business. The city will actively strive for pilot measures to expand opening-up in the fields of telecommunications, Internet, education, culture, and healthcare. The city will benchmark against high-standard international economic and trade rules, and take the lead in promoting the opening-up of rules, regulations, management, standards and other systems. The city will promote the exploration of opening-up measures in the fields of digital trade, financial services, information services, and exhibition services in the Hongqiao International Central Business District.

Second, the city will boost the overall strength of foreign investment with a focus on supporting and guiding foreign investment towards high-end manufacturing, modern services, high-tech and energy conservation and environmental protection industries, in a bid to improve the quality of foreign capital utilization. For example, the city will enable foreign-funded enterprises to have equal access to various industrial, technological transformation and digital transformation policies. The eligible headquarters enterprises will have equal access to subsidies and incentives in accordance with laws and regulations. The city will implement the national tax policy on science and technology innovation. The city will encourage foreign investors to set up open innovation platforms and promote the establishment of collaborative innovation projects with foreign-funded R&D institutions. The city will support more high-level first stores and new products to be launched in Shanghai. The city will support foreign-funded enterprises to participate in the research and development, promotion and application of green and low-carbon technologies.

Third, the city will increase the support for the factors to drive foreign investment development with a focus on supportive or facilitation measures around taxation, finance, personnel exchanges, and import and export in a bid to promote the implementation of foreign-funded projects. For example, the city will strengthen the mechanism where special taskforces and officers are designated to support foreign-funded projects. The city will support all districts in giving incentives to foreign-funded enterprises, new foreign-invested projects, and foreign-funded enterprises’ profit reinvestment projects that are ed with the city’s industrial development blueprint. The city will take a pilot measure to expand the foreign investment channels for Qualified Foreign Limited Partner (QFLP) funds. The city will expand the scope in terms of the recognition of high-end foreign talents (Category A) and foreign professional talents (Category B). The city will provide support to the executives of foreign-funded enterprises, foreign technicians and their families in terms of entry-exit and stay.

Fourth, the city will optimize the services for foreign investment, with a focus on strengthening investment promotion services, protecting foreign investors’ legitimate rights and interests, and creating a solid investment environment. For example, the city will carry out “Invest Shanghai” investment promotion activities for both domestic and foreign investors. The city will hold roundtables to facilitate government-enterprise communications, and establish a mechanism to connect with the commissioners at foreign business associations and chambers in Shanghai. The city will expand the functions of the overseas investment promotion service platform and provide multilingual services. The city will enable online handling in both Chinese and English languages of high-frequency matters such as foreigners’ entry and exit and work permit at the special foreign service windows. The city will further improve the complaints channels for foreign-funded enterprises. The city will ensure equal treatment to foreign-funded enterprises in government procurement. The city will strengthen the construction of mechanisms for rapid and coordinated protection of intellectual property rights.

Looking forward, Shanghai will strive to publicize and implement these policies and measures, and ensure enterprises can directly benefit from these policies and measures, whose effect and impact will be maximized, in a bid to drive forward Shanghai’s foreign trade and foreign investment to continue to achieve higher-quality development under the new situation.