The Director of the Municipal Foreign Affairs Office and the Mayor of Jing'an District have made a commitment to face more than ten senior executives from Shanghai's foreign enterprises repeatedly asking questions about their development
"I have a question, the vast majority of Shanghai government documents are only available in Chinese. Foreign companies can only rely on their own translations for the English version, which results in misunderstandings among different companies due to different translations." Han Li, Vice President of New Zealand's Evergrande Group in Greater China, bluntly stated that this will affect the business environment in Shanghai.
"The situation you mentioned does indeed exist, and we are also working to improve it. In the future, our government website will not only have an English version, but also a multilingual version in French, Spanish, Japanese, and other languages." Kong Fu'an, Director of the Municipal Foreign Affairs Office, told Han Li that Shanghai has launched the bilingual "Shanghai Information Weekly" in both Chinese and English since July 5th, covering important foreign-related information and policy interpretations in the past week. The aim is to help enterprises, institutions, and foreign nationals from various countries understand the latest policies in Shanghai and grasp the forefront of society.
In order to deeply implement the spirit of the Municipal Party Committee Plenary Session, continuously optimize the business environment, and serve the high-quality development of foreign-funded enterprises in this city, a symposium was recently held at the Party and Mass Service Station of Henglong Square. More than ten senior executives of foreign-funded enterprises in Shanghai asked questions to the Director of the Municipal Foreign Affairs Office and the Mayor of Jing'an District about daily life, enterprise development, and Sino foreign exchanges.
"We will carefully listen and record your speeches, and provide on-site responses if possible. If not, we will respond as soon as possible." The officials present promised the foreign executives.
Mobile payments can be implemented after entry
Bruno, Senior Global Partner and Chief Marketing Officer of Bain Consulting in China, was the first to speak, stating that "the waiting time for entry from Shanghai Airport is currently too long, and we hope to provide some customs clearance convenience for business people.". Prada's Director of Business Development, Jiang Lu, also agrees, "Chinese citizens are very convenient to check in at airports now, but being too intelligent is not friendly to foreigners. They have to go to the front row of the counter to catch a flight.".
Entering and exiting the airport is just the first hurdle of living in Shanghai. Wu Junjie, General Manager of Jing'an Shangri La, admitted that with the increasing popularity of digital payments in Shanghai, the problem of payment difficulties for foreign nationals entering the country in the first week has become increasingly prominent. In addition, some places can be registered with a copy of their passport, while others require the original copy, leaving foreign nationals who have just arrived in Shanghai at a loss.
"We all hope that foreign nationals holding passports can enjoy various public services just like Shanghai citizens," said Zhou Jiasui, Senior Vice General Manager of Keppel Group's Representative Office in China, expressing the opinions of all foreign executives.
"We will certainly work in this direction. Now foreigners can directly use Visa, MasterCard and other international bank cards to bind Alipay, WeChat and other payment software, and mobile payment can be realized after entry." Kong Fu'an told foreign enterprise executives that there is still much room for improvement in optimizing the payment experience of foreigners in Shanghai, especially the need to improve the foreign-related payment scene. The foreign affairs office will also communicate and coordinate with the Shanghai headquarters of the People's Bank of China and relevant enterprises. Regarding issues such as long entry times and inconvenient check-in, we will contact the airport after the symposium.
Provide greater support through targeted measures
"Many of us here today are consumer goods companies, and we are very concerned about how Shanghai can enhance the willingness of its citizens to consume." During the symposium, the President of Dotray Trading Company, Michael Owen, asked whether the government can introduce more measures like the "May 5th Shopping Festival", and whether companies are willing to further expand their business presence in Shanghai.
Foreign executives also mentioned that promoting consumption relies on product upgrades. "Don't underestimate cosmetics, small bottles contain a lot of high-tech," said Lan Zhenzhen, Chief Corporate Affairs and Public Relations Officer of L'Oreal North Asia and China at L'Oreal Limited. Therefore, we hope that the Shanghai side can act as a bridge to facilitate communication and exchange between more startups and large enterprises, and to connect various links of industry, academia, and research.
Peng Zhaohui, Senior Director of Henglong Real Estate's Mainland Business, who is deeply involved in mainland China, suggests that Shanghai should promote the use of green energy projects in commercial real estate development, in order to help Shanghai improve its green and low-carbon technology industry level. Sitting next to Daikin Air Conditioning Shanghai Branch, the General Manager of Daikin Air Conditioning, Makoto Oto, immediately found a business opportunity. "Our company will launch more green technology products, which can not only provide better experiences for citizens, but also drive product sales in Shanghai.".
"We will carefully consider the issues raised by entrepreneurs and provide greater support to enterprises with targeted service measures. All commitments will be fully implemented." Jing'an District Mayor Wang Huabian listened and responded one by one, "Jing'an, as the city with the most distinctive international characteristics in Shanghai, will fully support multinational companies to carry out more digital and green innovation practices, further assisting enterprises in exploring the Chinese market and deepening development and growth.".
Hope there will be more personnel exchanges after the epidemic
During the symposium, promoting exchanges between China and foreign countries has also become a hot topic of discussion among foreign executives.
"I live very comfortably in Shanghai," said Wei Kesi, the president of China Merchants Bank Limited, who has been working in Shanghai for many years and has long regarded it as his second hometown. But he bluntly stated that most foreign friends have never been to China, and their understanding of China is still limited to local media reports. "It's better to see than to hear. I hope there will be more people coming and going after the epidemic.".
Lan Zhenzhen quickly took over Wei Kesi's words and said, "Many foreign executives, including myself, have won the Magnolia Award. We can not only offer advice and suggestions for Shanghai's development, but also serve as civil diplomacy ambassadors, sharing our personal experiences overseas and expressing our desire to take root in Shanghai." OTB Group's Asia Pacific CEO Zhai Yage hopes that Shanghai can create a unique local culture in the future, enhance cultural attraction, and attract more foreign young people to develop here.
"We warmly welcome foreign friends to Shanghai and are also very happy to see cultural, economic and trade exchanges between China and foreign countries." Kong Fu'an said that Shanghai will create a more comfortable living environment for foreign friends in Shanghai, provide a higher quality business environment for enterprises, truly make everyone feel comfortable, live with peace of mind, and have more confidence as they work, in order to help write a new chapter of high-quality development and high-level opening up in Shanghai.
