Investment conference to reaffirm Shanghai's status, draw foreign investors

Shanghai will release its 2024 list of global investment partners including multinationals and well-known consulting firms at an investment conference that will kick off on Friday.

The Shanghai Global Investment Promotion Conference will focus on high technology, high efficiency, and high quality under the idea of "new quality productive forces," with innovation as the main driver.

The conference, with the theme of "Connecting the world, creating the future," aims to refine the investment opportunities of Shanghai's key industrial chain, and to share with the world Shanghai's economic vitality and charm as a metropolis. Related activities will take place over the following two weeks.

Started in 2021, the annual conference has become an important initiative to boost business confidence at home and abroad.

In 2023 in particular, 24 policies on investment promotion were delivered at the conference and several high-level major industrial projects were signed, which injected strong momentum into the high-quality development of Shanghai's industrial economy.

The general agenda of this conference includes:

Releasing the list of 2024 Shanghai global investment partners. Several well-known enterprises and organizations, including multinational corporations, internationally renowned consulting firms, international business associations, and financial institutions would be selected to become spokespeople and promoters of Shanghai;

Releasing the investment opportunities of key industrial chains. Launching a new round of development plans, policy support, special funds, chain master enterprises, ecological building and other protection measures;

Releasing a series of investment-promoting policies and services jointly by different governmental departments relating to funds, industrial cost reduction, and other investment policies.

After the main promotion conference, there will be an extra session for new quality productive forces, including four key industrial areas, such as large aircraft and intelligent robots. Different Districts will hold relevant meetings and share investment opportunities.

Each district will also invite various enterprises and industry leaders to organize investment promotion activities to introduce government policies, expanding Shanghai's influence as an investment center.

In 2023, Shanghai set up 6,017 new foreign-invested enterprises, up 38.3 percent from the same period last year; the amount of actual use of foreign capital was US$24,087 million, up 0.5 percent from the same period last year, according to official data.