City welcomes batch of private enterprises

Shanghai on Monday awarded certificates to the headquarters of another 40 private enterprises in the city.

Among them were Shanghai Juneyao Group Co Ltd, an air transport provider, and courier company YTO Express Group Co.

The COVID-19 outbreak, together with uncertainties in international political and economic situations, has made the external environment more complex and changeable, bringing new challenges but also new opportunities, the city's government said.

Authorities said that, in the next step, the city will implement the policy of rescuing and benefiting enterprises, to create a business environment that is market-oriented, ruled by law, and international.

In order to promote the private sector in Shanghai and boost innovative development, the city's Commission of Commerce, the Commission of Development and Reform, Commission of Economy and Informatization, and the Federation of Industry and Commerce issued "Opinions on the encouragement to set up headquarters of private enterprises in Shanghai" last year. 

The city has since approved the headquarters of 193 private enterprises by the end of last year, covering various industries including manufacturing, wholesale and retail, transport, information services, construction, real estate, finance, culture, and residential services. Their annual business income has exceeded 2 trillion yuan (US$285.6 billion), equivalent to around 20 percent of the total annual sales of commodities. 

These companies have also offered jobs to nearly 300,000 people and have more than 3,000 branches in other provinces and cities, which "fully reflected the important role that the headquarters of private enterprises have played in promoting supply-side structural reform, boosting high-quality development and building a modern economic system," according to local authorities.