Shanghai's trade role is key, Xi says

Financial center will take 'bold, creative steps' to aid investment

China will capitalize on the role of Shanghai and surrounding areas in opening up, President Xi Jinping said at the opening ceremony of the China International Import Expo in the city on Monday.

The China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone will be expanded, Xi said, adding that the country will encourage and support "bold and creative steps" by the municipality to advance investment and trade liberalization so that more of its successful practices can be replicated in other parts of China.

The zone is the first of its kind in the country, covering an area of 120 square kilometers.

Shanghai will also receive support in cementing its position as an international financial center and science and innovation hub, and the government will steadily improve the fundamental institutions of its capital market, Xi said.

A new trading platform for science and technology innovation companies will be launched in Shanghai, as well as an experimental registration-based system for initial public offerings, he added.

"We will support integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region," Xi said. "We'll make it a national strategy and implement our new development philosophy in earnest."

The president said the region's further integration is part of the national blueprint to improve the country's reform and opening-up, together with the Belt and Road Initiative, coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Denis Depoux, China CEO of global consultancy Roland Berger, said the integration of the Yangtze River Delta as a national strategy will be a game-changer for Shanghai. It will have a positive effect on its economy, he said.

"This, combined with further expansion of the free trade zone and piloting an innovation-based stock market, will create new opportunities on the infrastructure side, and also establish Shanghai as a technology hub," he said.

Pan Jianjun, spokesman of the Shanghai-based Bright Food (Group), said the company is encouraged by the government's decision to set up new areas in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone.

"The move will help Bright Food better reach out to the vast overseas market and facilitate outbound financing and investment to bring in more quality imported goods and meet the demand for high-quality goods of Chinese consumers," Pan said.

Some foreign enterprises, including Volvo Car Group, said that they have made the right decision to establish their Asia-Pacific headquarters in Shanghai.

"This move proposed by President Xi will further facilitate the development of Volvo in China and the Asia-Pacific region and in its global development," said Michel Zhao, vice-president of Corporate Communications for Volvo Car Asia Pacific.