Magnolia Gold Award for top foreign talent in Shanghai
TWELVE expats from Italy, the UK, France, Japan, Germany, Denmark, the US and Singapore were presented with the Magnolia Gold Award by Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong on September 29 as recognition for their outstanding contributions to the city.
The award winners cover a wide field, namely enterprise managers from trade, finance, shipping and service sectors, as well as experts and scholars in sciences and culture.
At the awarding ceremony, Xu Kunlin, vice mayor of Shanghai, thanked all the recipients for their remarkable contributions toward Shanghai’s economic and social development.
He told the elite gathering that the city was dedicated to building itself into a global center for economy, finance, trade, shipping and innovation, establishing its brands for manufacturing, shopping, culture and service, and accelerating the integrated high-quality development in the Yangtze River Delta region.
“All these will provide great opportunities to foreigners in Shanghai,” he said. “In keeping with the city’s spirits of inclusiveness, excellence, open-mindedness and humility, we will fully engage our friends from overseas and share these opportunities with all of you. We hope that you will continue to offer your suggestions and insights for Shanghai’s socioeconomic development and together we can make Shanghai a greater city.”
Julian Guy Blissett, executive vice president of SAIC General Motors Co Ltd, thanked the Shanghai government for the honor on behalf of all the recipients.
“We come from many different backgrounds and cultures, but we share a few things in common,” he said. “We all love Shanghai, we all want to contribute to Shanghai’s growth and we are all proud of its achievements.”
The Magnolia Gold Award was initiated in 1993 and 332 people have received the award since then.