On Friday, the Shanghai government issued a new “24 measures” policy to promote and facilitate foreign enterprises in the city, as well as protect property rights.

At a news conference Friday afternoon Yang Chao, deputy director of Shanghai’s Commerce Committee, announced the guidelines, saying that throughout the first three months of 2020, the city managed to attract 4.6 billion yuan ($650 million) in foreign investment, a 4.5% increase from last year, despite the coronavirus outbreak. From January to March, he said there were 129 successfully signed new projects with a total investment of 23.9 billion yuan.

According to Yang, about 90% of recent foreign investments in Shanghai were from manufacturing accounts in industries such as intelligent manufacturing, big data, artificial intelligence, biopharmaceuticals, and advanced materials technologies. Such investment, Yang said, was becoming “an important part of Shanghai’s economic and social development.” 

With the guidelines, companies with investments in the city will seek to expand. American company Walmart has established two of its Sam’s Club stores in Shanghai since 2010, with a flagship store arriving in the city next year. Andrew Miles, chief executive of Walmart in China told Sixth Tone that the company had been in China for 24 years, and that the new measures “will make us feel more confidence in the coming years.” (Image: Wu Huiyuan/Sixth Tone)