Pudong New Area held a conference on Tuesday to further promote the Global Operator Program (GOP), which marks a milestone for the area to boost the development of headquarters economy.

At the conference, Pudong announced a series of measures to support the high-quality development of global headquarters which focuses on four areas: enhancing capabilities, expanding functions, empowering innovation, and improving services.

Pudong plans to attract and cultivate a group of leading global headquarters and global operators with high-end element allocation capabilities as well as encourage global headquarters to expand their functions in areas such as trade, research and development, and settlement.

A number of new global headquarters companies signed agreements with their respective development zones.

Launched on December 16, 2020, GOP aims to attract more global headquarters and global operators with global resource allocation capabilities to Pudong, and to enhance Pudong's status in the global industrial chain, value chain and innovation chain. Over 180 companies have since joined the program.

Covestro (Shanghai) Investment Co., Ltd., a German chemicals company, has become the first multi-functional global headquarters in Shanghai after joining the GOP.

"This year, we built the world's largest thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) production base in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, based on our headquarters in Pudong," said Lei Huanli, President of Covestro China based in Shanghai. "The new base will have a maximum annual production capacity of 120,000 tons when completed in three phases. This is a testament to the important role of headquarters."