Shanghai hails foreign investment milestones

SHANGHAI’S commercial sector has witnessed remarkable development in the past 30 years, with foreign investment playing a significant role in promoting consumption, boosting market confidence and creating a global shopping destination.

The Commercial Working Committee of Shanghai Foreign Investment Association selected and released the 30 milestone events of foreign investment in Shanghai’s commercial sector, reviewing the representative events of opening-up and promoting commercial development, and showing the important role of foreign investment in the city’s social and economic development.

The 30 milestone events cover various aspects of the city’s commercial sector, such as retail, wholesale, online, offline, catering, home furnishing, sports, entertainment, art and fashion. They also reflect the changes and trends of the city’s consumption market, such as the emergence of new business formats, new consumption concepts, new consumer groups and new consumption scenarios.

Wu Xingbao, executive vice president and secretary-general of the Shanghai Commerce Association, said that the release of the 30 milestone events was not only a systematic review of the foreign-invested enterprises that entered Shanghai, but also a demonstration of the city’s longterm commitment to opening-up.

Liu Min, deputy director of the Shanghai Commission of Commerce, said that over the past 30 years, foreign investment has been an important part of Shanghai’s commercial development, while the city has also issued a series of policies to attract and utilize foreign investment, promote consumption and boost market expectations and confidence.

Shanghai’s consumption market continued to recover this year after the pandemic, reflecting the vitality and resilience of its economy, Liu said. She expressed the hope that “foreign commercial enterprises in the city would further strengthen their confidence in Shanghai’s development, seize the opportunities of its modernization and jointly write a new chapter of its development.”

Here are some of the milestones.