From being the host of the CIIE to expanding its free trade zone and launching a new innovation board at its stock exchange, the city will play a large and more integral role in China’s ongoing drive to further open its doors to the rest of the world
The inaugural China International Import Expo may have ended, but the role that Shanghai – it is the host city of the annual event – has to play in the nation’s further opening-up is far from finished.
President Xi Jinping, in his keynote speech at the event’s opening ceremony on Nov 5, highlighted the important role that Shanghai has to play in the nation’s slew of opening-up initiatives, including the expansion of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, the launch of a science and technology innovation board at the Shanghai Stock Exchange, a new registration system for listed companies, and the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region.
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Volunteers take a group photo on Nov 9 in front of the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), where the first China International Import Expo was held. Chen Jianli / Xinhua |
On Nov 7, during a meeting of the standing committee of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, the city’s Party secretary Li Qiang said Shanghai will more proactively push its development in serving the national strategy and better represent the country on the international stage for global cooperation and competition.
Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong said the city will continue to leverage the CIIE as a means to improve efficiency in the trade environment, promote free trade and bolster China’s influence in the international market.
On Nov 13, a global commodity trade hub managed by Shanghai conglomerate Greenland Group, which serves as the 365-day trade service platform for the CIIE, began its operation. Located to the south of the expo venue – the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) – this hub has attracted 112 enterprises and organizations from 41 countries, with another 20 expected to join in the following three months, Greenland said in a news release.
Covering more than 400,000 square meters, the trade hub combines the functions of goods trade, corporate headquarters, smart logistics and an online trade platform with an estimated annual transaction volume worth over 100 billion yuan ($14.4 billion; 12.8 billion euros; ￡11.2 billion).
The trade hub is one of the year-round exhibition and transaction platforms the city has launched to support the expo and promote its sustainable development, so as to develop the city into a distribution hub for imported goods across China and Asia.
According to the Shanghai Commerce Commission, the platforms were established because the authorities recognized that the six-day expo would not provide international exhibitors and buyers with enough time to learn about all the business opportunities in China.
“The platforms will promote the sustainable development of the expo and enhance Shanghai’s brand as an international shopping destination,” says Shang Yuying, director of the commission.
By bringing exhibitors and suppliers from around the world to the six-day expo, Shanghai can upgrade the city’s shopping services and help with the integration of services in the Yangtze River Delta region.
Authorities have called this the spillover effect of the expo. Zhang Min, executive head of Shanghai University’s Shanghai Exhibition Research Institute, explains that Shanghai, a city that thrives on commerce, can tap into the expo and its platforms to draw global supply to meet the demand of the more than 200 million affluent consumers in the delta region who are demanding world-class products and services.
Although the delta region accounts for just 3.8 percent of China’s total land area, its GDP amounted to 19.5 trillion yuan last year, more than 25 percent of the national total, according to official statistics.
Shanghai has also been using and will continue to use the CIIE as a platform to push the city’s further reform and opening-up, says Ying, the mayor.
For example, the city has called on its State-owned enterprises, private enterprises and foreign-funded entities to use the expo as a platform for international cooperation, which would result in a high quality development of the city’s economy, says Ying, who witnessed a delegation of SOEs from Shanghai signing trade agreements with foreign enterprises at the CIIE.
The delegation of SOEs from Shanghai which comprised more than 3,500 buyers signed more than 100 trade agreements with foreign enterprises at the expo in fields such as intelligent high-end equipment, medical and healthcare, auto parts, food and agricultural products and services trade.
According to the municipal government, these agreements will encourage the establishment of more joint ventures between SOEs and foreign companies in the city’s pillar and strategic emerging industries.
As the world’s first national import expo, the CIIE is a landmark undertaking in the history of international trade. The event, which gathered 3,617 companies from around the world, ended on Nov 10 with the value of potential deals reached amounting to $57.8 billion.
Scientific researchers in the delta region have said the CIIE is a platform for trading but also a good exchange platform, since it allows industry players to be exposed to cutting-edge technology from across the globe.
“Such a transparent exhibition platform provides abundant opportunities for communication between the technology suppliers and purchasers to learn each other’s needs,” says Huang Zhengren, director of the Ningbo Institute of Industrial Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
“Greater knowledge of such needs will help to apply more research results from the country in the market, even in the global market.”
To further invigorate the city’s private economy, which has greatly contributed to its quest to become a city of innovation, the Shanghai government announced in a document released on Nov 3 that it has earmarked 30 billion yuan as financial assistance for small and medium-sized private enterprises, most of which are in the tech sector.
Wang Yu, president of Shanghai Yuking Water Soluble Material Tech, which sells its products to medicine producers in more than 100 countries, says he expects competitive small private businesses from strategic emerging industries to receive more help so they can better represent the country in the international arena.
Tan Limin, CEO of Shanghai Westwell Information and Technology Co Ltd, a startup specializing in artificial intelligence, says: “The biggest advantage of the private economy is its strong innovation ability, which can constantly adapt to changes in the market environment.
“We hope that we can make every effort to contribute our AI expertise to the country so that we can become a power in science and technology.”
Leaders laud Shanghai
The integration of the Yangtze River Delta area will be a game-changer in the Shanghai region that would have a very positive effect on the economy. This, combined with further expansion of the free trade zone and the piloting of an innovation stock market, will create new opportunities on the infrastructure side and establish Shanghai as a technology hub.
Denis Depoux, China CEO of global consultancy Roland Berger
We will leverage our global resource and innovation capabilities to support the development of the Yangtze River Delta cluster and support the construction of a Shanghai science and technology innovation center.
Tony Acciarito, president of Thermo Fisher Scientific China
With the first CIIE taking place in Shanghai, we once again witness the city’s openness and inclusion. Philips China is headquartered in Shanghai, and I personally live and work here as well. I am happy and proud to be in this city.
Andy Ho, CEO of Royal Philips China
The introduction of a high-tech innovation board and the experimentation with a registration-based system for initial public offerings in Shanghai demonstrates that China’s financial market is catching up with international standards.
Huang Xiaoguang, CEO of ANZ China
The three new decisions on Shanghai’s further development elaborated by President Xi Jinping (at the CIIE’s opening ceremony) will exert profound influence on the capital, industry and trade landscape in Shanghai, the Yangtze River Delta region and even the country. We are confident of seeing fruitful results achieved in the years to come with the new decisions.
Shi Yonglei, chairman of Shanghai-based snack chain Laiyifen Co
(China Daily European Weekly 11/16/2018 page15)