14th 5-year plan wins legislature’s approval 2021 Shanghai in Session

SHANGHAI Mayor Gong Zheng has clarified the city’s plan on key issues to bolster high-quality economic development, such as the further opening-up of the Pudong New Area and the city’s role in serving the national strategies.

The 14th Five-Year Plan (20212025) for Shanghai’s economic and social development and its long-term vision through 2035 was passed by the city’s legislature yesterday.

As 2021 marks the beginning of the 14th Five-Year Plan, the city set its goal to promote high-quality development, ensure high-quality life, and achieve high-efficiency governance over the next five years, Gong said at a press conference after the Shanghai People’s Congress concluded its annual session yesterday.

He highlighted optimizing the economic development pattern, attaching greater importance to the “five types of economy” that represents the direction and also advantages of Shanghai’s urban development — economy driven by innovation, service, headquarters, openness and flow.

Targeted policies will be tailored to better support and cultivate a number of leading enterprises with great influence, and to build clusters for the five types of economy.

As for the further development of the Pudong New Area, which has been a hot topic since the 30th anniversary of its opening-up last year, Gong pledged to promote higher-level reform and openingup of the area.

He said Shanghai will soon issue a document to push forward a series of innovative and pioneer actions on reform and openingup.

Greater emphasis will be laid on the special economic function zone and the special comprehensive bonded area, as well as the establishment of an optimized system of legal safeguards.

In terms of the business environment, Shanghai recently formulated the 4.0 version of measures on optimizing the business environment, setting 207 new tasks for reform.

Meanwhile, the China International Import Expo, the first and only national-level exhibition focusing on imports, will remain an important event in Shanghai.

“We will further expand the spillover effect of the expo, and focus on deepening the establishment of ‘four platforms’ respectively for international procurement, investment promotion, cultural exchange and the open cooperation,” Gong said.

The development of the STAR Market on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, another major task for the city, will also be further pushed forward, according to Gong.