Shanghai seeks international partners in a bid to attract foreign investment

In order to grasp new opportunities for global investment, Shanghai is embracing influential enterprises, institutions and organizations across various categories to become its global partners in promoting foreign investment in the city.

In one of the city’s latest endeavours to promote investment, an Invest in China Year Summit & Shanghai City Promotion is scheduled to be held on November 5 when the 6th China International Import Expo also kicks off. Organized by the Ministry of Commerce and Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, the event will see around 200 participants, including high-level officials from the central and local governments, and representatives of various international organizations and multinational enterprises.

As a matter of fact, the Shanghai global partners for foreign investment initiative aims to coordinate the use of various international and domestic resources to attract and promote high-quality foreign investment as well as expand the scale of foreign investment.

Shanghai global partners refer to enterprises, institutions and organizations that have established a cooperative relationship with Shanghai for investment promotion, and make full use of their own strengths and industry resources to introduce foreign investment projects in line with the city's industrial development, and to assist in the landing of projects.

For example, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) has been promoting Hong Kong as a hub for two-way investment and trade, and fostering opportunities for global economic and trade cooperation for more than 50 years.

The HKTDC Shanghai Office was established in 1986. The exchanges and cooperation between Shanghai and Hong Kong have been expanding and deepening, from early economic and trade exchanges to full-fledged cooperation.

Since China's reform and opening up, about 18,000 Hong Kong enterprises have made direct investment in Shanghai, with a cumulative amount of about US$146.5 billion, making Hong Kong the top-ranked source of overseas direct investment in the city.

The Shanghai-Hong Kong cooperation mechanism has been in place for 20 years, with Shanghai boasting many renowned Hong Kong-owned enterprises and brands – from Plaza 66, Xintiandi, Bridge 8, Chow Tai Fook to Lee Kum Kee.

Lyu Jian, chief representative of HKTDC East and Central China, said: "The HKTDC will further promote high-quality cooperation between Shanghai and Hong Kong through Hong Kong's Mainland Development Support Program and a cluster of important events such as the China International Import Expo and the Hong Kong Forum for 'Belt and Road,' as well as introduction meetings with district governments."

In fact, Hong Kong's strength in science and technology is growing.

China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) clearly supports Hong Kong to become an international center for innovation and technology.

"For the first time, the HKTDC together with some Hong Kong science and technology enterprises participated in the recently concluded World Artificial Intelligence Conference to better tap the domestic market. While at the same time, we are making efforts to enrich and expand the field and scope of Hong Kong's investment in Shanghai," Lyu revealed.

"Hong Kong needs to join hands with Shanghai to shorten the innovation cycle of products and technologies, and to speed up the transformation process. I believe the two cities will fully leverage their advantages to build a joint innovation and development system in the process of building a new ecosystem that serves the transformation of global scientific research results.

"We are happy to share HKTDC's platforms and services to help the science and innovation cooperation between Shanghai and Hong Kong."

With the support of the HKSAR government, the HKTDC launched the Mainland Development Support Program for Hong Kong enterprises in 2022, the first phase of which will last until 2025. The program aims to support those Hong Kong enterprises already operating on the mainland to better integrate into the overall development of the country.

Organized by the HKTDC and the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, the Shanghai-Hong Kong Innovation and Development Forum under the framework of this program was held on March 31, attracting nearly 550 company representatives from the two cities.

Likewise, the China Israel Chamber of Commerce (IsCham) also functions as a bridge to help and assist Israeli companies to operate and successfully do business in China.

At the 2023 Shanghai Global Investment Promotion Conference held in April, IsCham was included in the third batch of Shanghai Global Investment Promotion Partners.

Established in 2008 in Beijing, IsCham is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that represents and assists Chinese and Israeli business communities. IsCham is "growing" in China and developing its business links with Israel and the Jewish world.

Initiated and supported by then Israeli President Shimon Peres, IsCham is the only Israeli Chamber of Commerce in China recognized by the Israeli Embassy in China, receiving full support from the embassy and Israeli consulates in China.

"Many Israeli companies are located in Shanghai, engaging in their business in chemistry, water resources, automotive and agriculture," noted Iris Kastoriano, general manager of IsCham. "Shanghai is important to the Israeli business community. So we opened our Shanghai representative office in 2016."

Today nearly half of the enterprises in the China-Israel (Shanghai) Innovation Hub in Putuo District are Israeli enterprises, Sino-Israeli joint ventures, or firms that introduce Israeli technology.

In fact, IsCham has been making various efforts in Shanghai for a long time.

It is reported that IsCham will organize a delegation to China soon, focusing on the feasibility of cooperation in the medical and automotive areas. It also organized an event related to the Shanghai Global Partnership Program in September.

"Since the opening of IsCham, it has received strong support from the Shanghai government under a friendly business environment. The Shanghai government's efforts to attract foreign investment and promote international cooperation are really helpful to our work," said Kastoriano.

"We hope to see more close contacts and the emergence of more joint ventures combining China's determination for high-quality development with the solutions that might be provided by a large number of Israeli science and technology companies. Such combination will definitely generate bigger cooperative results between the two countries."