Building Shanghai’s Hongqiao district into an international opening up hub is currently a hot topic in the city. A press conference on the main measures to achieve the goal was held by the Shanghai Municipal Government on March 3.

According to the overall construction plan, with the 151.4-square-kilometer Hongqiao Central Business Districtas the core, an international trade center will be developed with a high transportation management level, so as to lead the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta through high-level, coordinated opening-up.

A batch of 29 key measures were announced at the conference, through which breakthroughs can be made. 16 measures will be tried first in the Hongqiao Central Business District, covering aspects of normalizing the supporting policies, especially for the China International Import Expo, pushing the high-level opening of the service industry, promoting the high-quality development of trade, accelerating the agglomeration and upgrading of the headquarters economy, and strengthening the transportation hub function.

Some measures were proposed for the first time nationwide, such as the establishment of cross-regional social organizations and the construction of schools for children of foreign personnel across China.

47 high-end functional platforms will be upgraded to facilitate building the hub, for example, encouraging the New Hongqiao International Medical Center to develop medical service trade, and supporting the construction of Jinshan East China UAV Base.

26 key projects related to building interconnected transportation facilities and developing core industries have also been revealed.