Optimistic about Shanghai, Yangpu District Party Committee Secretary answers foreign media reporters: Foreign-invested enterprises are firmly optimistic about Yangpu
On June 13-14, the first of a series of overseas media journalists' dialogues with secretaries in the country, a special session with the secretary of Yangpu District Party Committee in Shanghai, was held at Yangpu Riverside. Organized by the China Journalists Association and the Shanghai Municipal Government Information Office, and co-organized by the Shanghai Journalists Association and the Yangpu District Government Information Office, the special session was held. More than 30 media outlets participated, including Anadolu Agency of Turkey, Corriere della Sera of Italy, China-Arab TV, Channel News Asia of Singapore, South China Morning Post of Hong Kong, Phoenix TV of Hong Kong, Guangming Daily, CGTN, and Jiefang Daily. Xue Kan, secretary of the Yangpu District Party Committee, introduced the situation of Yangpu District and answered questions from the media.
In recent years, Yangpu's economic development has improved significantly. Last year, the GDP growth rate was 5.6%, 0.6 percentage points higher than the city's, showing strong competitiveness and endogenous power. Faced with a complex international environment and cyclical economic downward pressure, Yangpu's economic growth remains stable, with both quality and quantity improving simultaneously.
Xue Kan believes that there are three main reasons for this. First, Yangpu insists on innovation-driven development, and the contribution and proportion of scientific and technological innovation in the entire economic structure are constantly increasing. Innovative industries led by the digital economy are constantly growing and developing, becoming the main contributor to the economy.
"As an important carrier of Shanghai's science and technology innovation center, Yangpu is developing and nurturing new-quality productivity based on its own reality and promoting development through innovation." Xue Kan said that Yangpu is promoting a new round of innovation and development by focusing on the "four innovation forces" of enhancing the source of scientific and technological innovation throughout the whole process, improving the competitiveness of the innovation industry in all aspects, stimulating the growth of the innovation ecosystem with all factors, and demonstrating the attractiveness of the innovation environment in all fields.
On the one hand, Yangpu has more than 10 well-known universities such as Fudan University and Tongji University. Through the "three-zone linkage" of university campuses, science and technology parks, and public communities, it has achieved integrated development, and continuously accelerated the transformation of batches of high-level knowledge achievements into cutting-edge technologies and innovative products.
At present, there are 7 national-level university science parks in Yangpu area, accounting for half of the total number in Shanghai. Each university science park is equipped with a professional service team to follow up on the transformation of university scientific and technological achievements and serve the implementation of entrepreneurial projects of teachers and students; professional service platforms are also built, such as the Future Valley-Bay Valley Innovation Center jointly built by Yangpu and Fudan University, and the Shanghai International Green and Low-Carbon Concept Verification Center has been built.
On the other hand, Yangpu combines innovation with industry, takes digital economy as the core, and builds a "1234" innovative modern industrial system. Currently, there are more than 7,000 digital economy enterprises in the district, gathering a number of digital economy platform enterprises such as Meituan, bilibili, and Xiaohongshu. Yangpu also actively coordinates various resources to help enterprises develop, supports Meituan to open the first drone route in the central urban area of Shanghai, and supports the company to expand the application scenarios of drone services, providing enterprises with valuable and urgently needed new application scenarios; supports Fuzhi Information to develop professional-grade 3D printing technology, provide personalized solutions for the medical and industrial fields, and help enterprises cultivate new technologies.
In addition, Yangpu is making every effort to build an innovative ecosystem. For example, the Shanghai Technology Exchange, which is located in Bay Valley Science Park, has accumulated a total transaction amount of more than 39.5 billion yuan in more than three years since its opening. Among them, the cumulative number of projects entering the market is 3,785, the cumulative number of achievements entering the market is 10,200, and the intellectual property pledge financing exceeds 7 billion yuan. Xue Kan said that Yangpu vigorously cultivates and supports such platforms so that more innovative entities can enjoy and use them well.
Xue Kan said that the other two reasons for the steady growth of Yangpu's economy are that it has always adhered to reform and optimized the business environment, maximized the convenience of business operations and improved the efficiency of government services by streamlining administration and delegating power; and insisted on diversified and systematic comprehensive opening up - not only open to traditional European and American countries, but also more open to emerging trading countries in Southeast Asia and South America, and iterated upgrades in trade varieties to service trade and digital trade.
In response to questions from the media about foreign-funded enterprises, he said that some foreign-funded enterprises shrinking their business scope is a normal market behavior and market law. "In the past two years, some foreign-funded enterprises have withdrawn from the Chinese market. According to our research on these enterprises, part of the reason is that the competitiveness of Chinese local enterprises in economic development has increased, and the competitive advantage of foreign capital has begun to fade."
"There are both outflows and inflows. The foreign-invested enterprises we have introduced in recent years have shown good momentum." Xue Kan introduced that there are more than 1,700 foreign-invested enterprises in Yangpu, of which 44 are regional headquarters and foreign-invested R&D centers of multinational corporations. They have very strong capabilities and competitiveness.
Xue Kan cited an example, recently, Nike Group President and CEO Tang Ruoxu visited Shanghai and expressed his optimism about Shanghai, saying that Nike will continue to expand its investment in China and add new business categories, especially to showcase some global first-time products in Shanghai. Nike previously built its first sports research laboratory outside of its North American headquarters in Yangpu, with the goal of developing and launching new products and experiences that are more innovative and futuristic, and bringing more innovative and creative achievements from China and Shanghai to the global market.
In addition, German multinational company Henkel recently invested nearly 100 million yuan to build a consumer products R&D center in Yangpu, firmly optimistic about the Chinese consumer products market. Siemens invested against the trend in 2022 and expanded its factoring business in Yangpu.
"Yangpu has shown great potential in foreign investment development in recent years. More and more companies are actively entering new business areas such as digital economy, cross-border e-commerce, and green supply chain, constantly catering to the needs of the development of the Chinese market, exploring Chinese business opportunities, and occupying the Chinese market." Xue Kan said, "These examples clearly show that foreign companies are still firmly optimistic about Yangpu and Shanghai."
Many foreign media reporters also asked Xue Kan about the potential opportunities and possibilities for cooperation and development between their own companies and Yangpu. A reporter from Corriere della Sera said that there are many cultural and creative, technological innovation companies in Italy, which are not necessarily large in scale, and many are small and medium-sized enterprises, but they are very distinctive. What development opportunities will they have in Yangpu?
Xue Kan said that during his visit to Italy, he found that local universities and industry associations were very strong in professional fields, which left a deep impression on him. "I think there are still great opportunities for developing trade and the market is also huge. For example, the transformation of industrial heritage along the Seine River is very similar to Yangpu Riverside. The French Designers Association and we also have a lot of common understandings and common markets in urban renewal and industrial cooperation." Xue Kan said, "European and American countries also hope to strengthen cooperation with open cities like Shanghai, but sometimes there is information asymmetry. Foreign small and medium-sized enterprises and industrial and commercial operators do not know what opportunities there are in China, where the market is, and through what channels they can enter and stay."
In recent years, Yangpu has unswervingly promoted foreign cooperation and exchanges, and actively developed new friends. Last year, Le Cordon Bleu International, which Xue Kan met during his visit to France, was recently introduced to Yangpu Riverside, and a display center was built in an industrial heritage building. The company's Western cooking skills and training are very popular in Shanghai. In Mexico, Xue Kan found that the local market is very dynamic and full of opportunities. Many Chinese companies are rushing to grab land there. Yangpu can help them achieve industrial upgrading with its own advantages in high-tech and emerging industries. Yangpu has also worked with Laos, Brazil and other countries to build platform windows such as the Laos National Economic and Trade Cooperation Exhibition Hall and the Brazilian Investment Promotion Center.
In addition, Yangpu also combines "bringing in" and "going out" to provide necessary help and support to enterprises going overseas. Xue Kan said that many enterprises going overseas have great demand for legal services, market policy consulting services, etc. Yangpu has recently established an enterprise overseas service center to provide professional guidance to enterprises, help them find the right development positioning and make the right investment decisions.
"In terms of foreign cooperation, we will not miss such a large number of emerging markets and opportunities," said Xue Kan.
