Pudong on course to become international trade center

The Pudong New Area will attract hundreds of regional headquarters and first stores over the next five years to fuel the city's development as an international trade center, a newly-released plan shows.

First stores include debut of new brands, first flagship stores of brands which have entered domestic market and other kinds of "first" stores.

Shanghai is tasked with developing itself into an international trade center, and Pudong, at the forefront of reform, is expected to play a core role.

Under the plan, Pudong will introduce a total of 150 regional headquarters of multinational and domestic companies within five years, alongside e-commerce trading companies with significant influence. By the end of 2025, it aims to introduce 10 e-commerce companies valued at more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.56 billion).

Over five years, Pudong's total retail sales of consumer goods are expected to reach 400 billion yuan. It will build Lujiazui into a world-class commercial zone, and Nanhui New City, a new city-level commercial center.