China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Shanghai leaders at IBLAC invite multinationals to plant roots in city
Metropolis hopes to continue growing into a global business center
Companies from all over the world are not only welcome to get more deeply rooted in Shanghai but are encouraged to bring their experiences, expertise and industry insights, which can translate into material policies facilitating Shanghai’s high-quality development, according to top officials of the city.
Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng said that when attended the 33rd forum of the International Business Leaders’ Advisory Council held online on Oct 15.
The 2021 IBLAC, held online, attracted 40 multinational executives from 22 cities in the world to share their up-to-date findings on Shanghai.
This year, the IBLAC welcomed four newcomers, which were agricultural producer Cargill, pharmaceutical developer Boehringer-Ingelheim, beer producer Budweiser and banking service provider DBS.
Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS, said prior to the IBLAC that the company is proud to be part of the IBLAC.
“The IBLAC is a communication platform between enterprises and the city government. Many suggestions presented at the gathering have been included in the city’s development blueprint,” he said.
Initiated in 1989, the council has grown into an international think tank for Shanghai where multinational companies’ top executives gather annually to share their knowledge and experience. The annual event is also of great importance to conveying China and Shanghai’s resolution to further opening-up and deepen international cooperation.
Li Qiang, Party secretary of Shanghai, said at the IBLAC that Shanghai will continue to strengthen its capacity in international economy, finance, trade, shipping, technological innovation and consumption to support China’s economic upgrade and transformation. Shanghai will also take measures to be a central hub for the domestic circulation and a strategic link connecting the domestic and international markets.
In the next few years, Shanghai will deepen its high-quality reform and opening-up, with sharpened focus on systematic opening-up of rules, regulations, management and standards. By creating an increasingly marketized, legalized and international business environment, more policies and mechanisms with international competitiveness will be rolled out in Shanghai, Li said.
With the aims to support Shanghai to achieve higher goals in economic and social areas during the 14th Five-Year Plan(2021-25), multinational executives who attended the 2021 IBLAC gave deep dive on three themes — supporting the city’s further opening-up in wider fields, consumption upgrade and sustainable development.
Promoting opening-up
Severin Schwan, CEO of Roche Group, who took part in the IBLAC for 12 consecutive years, expressed excitement over Shanghai identifying biomedicine as one of its strategic industries.
He said Shanghai is now at a crossroad of scaling up its early success and truly establishing a world-class “in China, for the World” biomedical industry cluster and efforts have to be made to consolidate the developments.
Shanghai could facilitate academia-industry technology transfer, strengthen intellectual property protection, broaden the scope for opening-up and foreign investment in fields such as cell and gene therapy, optimize local clinical development process, accelerate local market access, strengthen manufacturing capabilities and cultivate talent, he said.
Sergio P. Ermotti, chairman of the board of directors of Swiss Re, said Shanghai has made solid progress in the construction of an international financial center, evidenced by the continual rise in its global rankings. However, the city has more to do to be a global business center.
He suggested Shanghai pay greater attention to risk management, including that of exposures to climate change and ageing population. Efforts should also be in place for Shanghai to be a global reinsurance and insurance center to attract more leading industrial players.
Martina Merz, chairwoman of the executive board and chief executive officer at Thyssenkrupp, proposed that the city to further open major and large-scale infrastructure projects supported by government to multinational companies, including innovative projects in the hightech areas. She also said that efforts can be made in areas such as creating a more transparent business environment, which lets the market play a leading role, increasing support to innovation and commercialization, and reducing over frequent flow of innovation talent.
Serving consumption trends
In recent years, continuous efforts have been made by the city government of Shanghai to support upgrade and transformation of consumption industry. In July, the State Council announced the construction of five “international consumption center cities” in China, with Shanghai included. In the city government’s latest blueprint, it plans to increase annual retail consumption to 1.8 trillion yuan ($278.18 billion) by 2023.
According to Orit Gadiesh, chairperson of Bain and Company, said Shanghai, with the aim to unleash full consumption potential, needs to create a better macroenvironment to facilitate ease of business and continue attracting retailers, brands and shoppers into the city. Measures could involves three core levels: maintaining Shanghai’s reputation as a premium, world-leading consumption hub; maximizing spending from local Shanghai residents; and increasing consumption from other domestic and external sources of spending.
With regard to the automotive industry, which is a pillar sector of Shanghai, Mary Barra, chairperson and CEO of General Motors, said the city is in a favorable position to maintain growth because “its citizens are among the most willing to accept new technologies and move upmarket”.
Barra said Shanghai could foster automotive culture, encouraging infrastructure to support ICVs and allowing people to experience different products and services to further support automotive consumption.
In the proposal submitted by L’oreal, the company suggested that the city’s industrial innovation be integrated with consumer insights. While the total consumption value should be further increased, as much importance be attached to improving consumption quality and promoting personalized consumption.
Supporting sustainable growth
At the IBLAC, the construction plan of five new towns in Shanghai during the 14th Five-Year Plan has been touched upon many times by companies.
Centering on the central area of Shanghai, and from northwest to southeast, the five suburbs are Jiading, Qingpu, Songjiang, Fengxian, and Nanhui districts in Pudong New Area.
According to the city’s 14th Five-Year Plan and Long-Term Vision for 2035, the number of permanent residents of the five suburbs will reach about 3.6 million by 2025, with the GDP in each suburb hitting 1.1 trillion yuan.
“I applaud the Shanghai municipal government’s attention to the green investment and green finance aspects in the early-stage development of the five new towns,” said Gupta.
George R. Oliver, chairman and CEO of Johnson Controls, proposed that Shanghai set higher sustainability goals for the five new towns, promote net-zero energy buildings and take a result-oriented approach in bidding for service suppliers, to ensure new projects meet targets.
Peter Voser, chairman of Swiss technology and engineering company ABB, suggested that joint research and pilot projects on sustainability led by the government and leveraging the synergies of various market players, be carried out as they have the power to accelerate the application of innovative technologies and promote sustainable development.
Executives from companies such as HSBC, Danfoss Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group were also invited to share their opinions on green transition and digitalization. .
The IBLAC is a communication platform between enterprises and the city government. Many suggestions presented at the gathering have been included in the city’s development blueprint.”
Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS