Shanghai’s mayor is urging city officials to behave like “shop assistants” when serving foreign companies in a bid to improve the city’s business environment.

At a press conference Monday, Mayor Ying Yong said government departments should be serving enterprises like sales associates so that more companies — both foreign and domestic — will consider setting up operations in the country’s financial capital. Domestic media quoted him as saying that officials can do this by “not being arrogant, but rather responsive to all requests in order to fully activate the vitality of the market.”

The mayor’s remarks follow Chinese President Xi Jinping vowing to continue improving the country’s business environment at the opening ceremony of the second China International Import Expo in Shanghai in November. Last year, the World Bank’s annual Doing Business report ranked China 31st out of 190 economies, up from 46th place in 2018 and 78th in 2017, and named the country among its “top 10 improvers.” (Image: The Paper)