As the first and only national-level financial and trade development zone approved by the State Council, Lujiazui Financial City serves as a crucial window for reform and opening-up and the core bearer of Shanghai's international financial center.
"Lujiazui contributes nearly half of the tax revenue and financial resources with one-seventh of the foreign-invested enterprises, and contributes 44% of Lujiazui's total revenue with 24% of the above-scale foreign-invested enterprises, with a contribution rate higher than the city's average level and domestic similar CBDs," said Zhou Haidong, Deputy Director of Lujiazui Management Bureau, during the "Vigorous China Research Tour" Shanghai-themed interview activity on September 8.
According to reports, Lujiazui Financial City area has gathered more than 47,000 enterprises, built 285 commercial buildings, owns more than 110 buildings with tax revenue exceeding 100 million yuan, and has a total economic output (GDP) exceeding 600 billion yuan. With 0.5% of the city's area and 2.6% of the district's area, it contributes nearly 14% of the city's economic output and nearly 40% of the district's economic output, becoming an important ballast and stabilizer for Pudong and Shanghai's economic development.
According to Zhou Haidong, from January to July this year, Lujiazui added 156 new contract foreign investment projects, including 88 newly established projects, a year-on-year increase of 18.92%; contract foreign investment amounted to $923 million, a year-on-year increase of 14.37%. From January to July, actual foreign investment reached $633 million, a year-on-year increase of 44.18%. A batch of key projects including ECCO, Dassault Business Incubator, and Lianyu Meishi Industry have newly landed.
Zhou Haidong pointed out that Lujiazui is the CBD with the highest comprehensive level of internationalization in China. Global financial institutions are highly concentrated here, owning 70% of the nation's foreign asset management institutions, 40% of foreign legal person banks, 40% of foreign securities firms, 55% of foreign wholly-owned public funds, more than 95% of the city's foreign bank institutions, and 80% of foreign insurance headquarters.
Therefore, Lujiazui has many "unique approaches" in serving foreign-invested and foreign trade enterprises.
"We understand the needs of foreign enterprises," Zhou Haidong said in a media interview. "First, foreign enterprises have very strong compliance requirements, so in our communication and exchanges with foreign enterprises, we pay great attention to compliance, ensuring that foreign enterprises basically don't need to consider too many legal and regulatory issues when going through internal processes. Our government departments have already thought ahead for foreign enterprises about what needs to comply with regulations at every stage, every document, and every node."
"Second, we also pay great attention to communication with foreign headquarters. Foreign enterprises in China generally go through a process from representative offices, to branch companies, to subsidiaries, and then to some Asia-Pacific regional headquarters, but much of the decision-making power lies with the group headquarters. So we have established London offices, Asia-Pacific offices, etc., also to leverage the role of overseas offices, strengthen communication with foreign enterprise headquarters, and let headquarters discover the vast business opportunities in the Chinese market."
Zhou Haidong stated that third, Lujiazui also focuses on the diversified needs of foreign enterprises and the life of foreign businesspeople. "We care about all aspects of foreign businesspeople, including how to shop, where to visit, where to rent houses, etc., so that foreign businesspeople feel the warmth here, and foreign businesspeople are willing to place their companies and businesses in Pudong and Lujiazui."
In addition to continuing to promote the landing of financial services opening projects and strengthening global resource allocation functions, Lujiazui continues to increase efforts to attract new foreign investment, including accelerating the attraction of investment from emerging sources along the "Belt and Road" such as the Middle East, leveraging the role of London City and Saudi Riyadh offices to extend the global investment promotion network; exploring the reinvestment potential of major foreign investment projects to form actual foreign investment contributions, such as encouraging key projects with foreign investment release potential like Saudi Electric to further expand investment; encouraging headquarters enterprises to explore multi-functional composite development, and on the basis of cases like Shiseido Trading and Porsche, continue to guide the establishment of new entities and enhance capabilities to strengthen economic contributions.
Zhou Haidong stated that looking ahead, Lujiazui Financial City will create a more international, market-oriented, and law-based business environment, provide higher quality services for foreign-invested and foreign trade enterprises' development in China, and make greater contributions to building domestic circulation center nodes and strategic links for domestic and international dual circulation.
Comments