Shanghai attracted a total of 178 regional headquarters of multinational companies, 159 investment companies and 215 foreign research and development centers, the most foreign capital seen among cities in the Chinese mainland as of the end of September, 2007, according to the Shanghai Foreign Economic and Trade Committee.

Shanghai lured 24 foreign company headquarters, nine investment companies and 19 research and development centers from January to September of this year, showing robust economic development.

Among the capital investments in the first three quarters of this year, 62.8 percent was put into the tertiary industry with projects numbering 2,402, showcasing the optimized industry structure on foreign investment.

However, Shanghai approved 60 real estate projects of foreign investment with a total investment capital of 1.946 billion US dollars, 19.5 percent falling year-on-year in the first three quarters of this year by the rigid macro-control policies.

Foreign investment in the Shanghai manufacturing sector remained stable in the first three quarters of this year. 622 projects were newly approved with a total capital investment of 3.823 billion US dollars, growing 5.5 percent year-on–year.

Large-scale foreign investment projects in which investment capital exceeded 10 million US dollars approved by Shanghai numbering 218 have absorbed 7.922 billion US dollars, accounting for 74 percent of the total contracted foreign investment. Of these, 99 projects are large-scale manufacturing projects. Contracted foreign investment amounted to 3 billion US dollars, 26.5 percent higher year-on-year.