City's core advantages for business on agenda at CIIE convention

Senior government officials will outline the city's unwavering commitment to sharpening its competitiveness to lure businesses and increasing its appeal to expatriates at the Shanghai City Promotion Convention, a major event of the China International Import Expo.

To be held at Shanghai Tower in Lujiazui, the Pudong New Area on November 6, the convention theme will be "Embracing the CIIE, Sharing a Future."

The participants will be representatives of key expo exhibitors, multinational companies with local investment, governments from within the country and abroad, and international organizations and investment promotion agencies.

They will be updated on the city's latest efforts to constantly improve its environment for overseas enterprises and optimizing its services to provide full support for expatriates working and living in Shanghai.

"This year's convention will particularly focus on 'urban soft power,' which Shanghai has vowed earlier to enhance in order to improve its core competence and global influence," said Zhu Yi, vice director of the Shanghai Commerce Commission.

"The mayor will deliver a keynote speech during the conference while international organizations and investment promotion agencies will also share their experiences and views on a number of topics, including global investment trends and advantages in doing business in Shanghai and China in the post-pandemic era."

One of China's most desirable investment destinations for foreign investors, Shanghai's ever-growing support and successively rolled-out incentives for both enterprises and talent have made the city a magnet for overseas investors.

During the first nine months of this year, paid-in foreign investment totaled 17.847 billion yuan (US$2.8 billion) in Shanghai, an increase of 15 percent from the same period last year, according to the commerce commission's data.

Accenture, for example, a global professional services company which has based its China headquarters in Shanghai, said it has been expanding its China business at a faster pace, with some 4,000 employees being added over the past two years to its China team which currently stands at around 19,000.

"Encouraged by the city's continuously improved environment for businesses, Accenture has been expanding its investment in China in areas including cloud computing, low-carbon sustainability, and emerging technologies, such as agile development and artificial intelligence, to further enhance its digital service capabilities and better serve clients in the country," said Irene Han, Accenture China's marketing & communications director.

"We will make our second presence this year at the CIIE and bring our latest green, digital solutions, industry insights and practices, and innovation capabilities and experiences to the event," Han said.

Global toy giant Lego Group, a four-time participant at CIIE, also expressed its long-term commitment to further expanding its business in China amid the improved business environment and enhanced intellectual property rights protection in the country.

"By the end of this year, we will cover more than 80 Chinese cities with 300 retail stores, compared with less than 50 branded stores in 2018 when the first CIIE opened," said Clothilde Yang, senior director of government & public affairs, Lego Toy (Shanghai) Co Ltd.