Shanghai's pilot free trade zone opened six overseas offices yesterday to enhance communication with international investors in the hope of attracting more of them to set up businesses.
Five offices, under the Shanghai Foreign Investment Development Board, are located in Los Angeles, London, Frankfurt, Gothenburg and Osaka. The sixth office is in Tokyo, under the Pudong New Area Commission of Commerce.
"These offices are dedicated to help foreign potential investors better understand the progress of the Shanghai free trade zone as well as assist domestic companies to expand abroad," said Zhu Min, deputy director of the FTZ's administration.
The offices will provide consultation and liaison services to investors and governments as well as inform them about the zone's investment environment, investment opportunities and related policies.
"The Shanghai free trade zone should not be constructed behind closed doors," said Gu Jun, deputy director of Shanghai Commission of Commerce. "These offices will collect opinions from overseas on building a better zone."
The FTZ is playing an increasingly important role in attracting foreign investors. The contract value of foreign-funded projects in the zone rose five times from a year ago to US$23.5 billion by the end of May this year, accounting for 79.1 percent of total foreign investment contract value in the city, Shang Yuying, chairwoman of the Shanghai Commission of Commerce, said on Wednesday.
In the first five months, 1,262 foreign-funded projects were launched in the zone, up 48.6 percent from a year ago.
