'Open, flexible' policies to attract foreign experts to Shanghai

Shanghai will attract more international professionals through "open and flexible" policies to help develop the city into an innovative center of science and technology with global clout, a senior official told lawmakers yesterday.

Shou Ziqi, director of the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission, said the city will introduce new policies that conform more to global practices to attract international professionals to the city.

"We must establish a relaxed cultural atmosphere that will attract professionals," Shou told the Shanghai People's Congress.

He pledged to give professionals "the opportunity to achieve their goals and be fully respected, as well as live in a comfortable environment."

In addition to national subsidies, the city government will offer more supporting preferential policies for the foreign experts, said Huang Weimao, deputy director of the Shanghai Foreign Experts Affairs Administration.

Examples include offering commercial medical insurance for foreign experts — separate from government-funded insurance — to conform more to international conventions, Huang said yesterday at the sideline of the congress

"These policies aim to ensure foreign professionals have fewer troubles and can settle down in the city," he said.

Some 88,000 foreign professionals live in Shanghai, including 626 national-level professionals.

They are mainly working for local universities, scientific research institutes and state-owned companies.

Huang said there is a trend in the city that more foreign professionals are attracted to local private companies.

Meanwhile, Wu Zhiming, the city's top political adviser, stressed a commitment to helping foreign professionals with their social security, medical requirements, the education of their children, as well as their accommodation.

"Only a better environment can attract more international professionals and see them settle here," Wu said.