The 16th Annual Dinner was given by the US business circles in the city in appreciation of the Shanghai Municipal Government on December 7. Shanghai Vice-Mayor Xu Kunlin and other officials of the city’s departments concerned, together with about 300 representatives of the US companies, attended the event.

Before the dinner, Vice-Mayor Xu Kunlin joined US Ambassador to China Terry Branstad, US Consul General in Shanghai Sean Bently Stein and representatives of some American firms in a round-table meeting. The American business executives offered views and proposals on the topic of “How to help Shanghai build an outstanding global city”. They also put forward suggestions, including relaxing restrictions on the internet, raising foreign investors’ share of stocks in the joint ventures, lowering the threshold for new drug access, improving the customs clearance efficiency, revising the rules and regulations for the direct sale companies and promulgating guidelines for the innovation policies.

In his address at the dinner, Xu Kunlin said as the two largest economies in the world and two leaders in global economic growth, China and the United States should expand their trade and investment cooperation, strengthen macro-economic policy coordination and promote the healthy, steady, dynamic and balanced development of their relations. Shanghai has always played a unique and important role in the development of relations between the two countries. At present, Shanghai is speeding up the building of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone and a global science & technology innovation center, and it will host the first China International Import Expo in November, 2018. He called for more exchange and cooperation with the American friends and achieving mutual benefits at a higher level in the historical process of turning Shanghai into an outstanding global city.