Online seminar about Shanghai's empowering work resumption policies puts foreign enterprises on a fast track

An online seminar concerning Shanghai's policies of empowering work resumption for foreign enterprises was held online on May 16. It was part of the effort to coordinate epidemic prevention and control as well as economic and social development, while actively and steadily achieving the goal of stabilizing foreign trade and investment. The seminar was jointly hosted by the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization (SMCEI) and the Shanghai People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (SPAFFC).

　　Rong Zhiqin, deputy director of the SMCEI, delivers a speech

9 representatives of foreign chambers of commerce in Shanghai, as well as the representative of Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce in China-Shanghai, and more than 30 representatives of foreign-invested enterprises attended the online meeting.

　　Jing Ying, vice president of the Shanghai People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.

Jing Ying, vice president of the Shanghai People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, said in her speech that Shanghai would gradually resume commercial business activities from May 16. Two weeks ago, SPAFFC collected information on the problems and demands of foreign enterprises in resuming work and production through several foreign chambers of commerce in Shanghai. Feedback about the production and operational needs of enterprises from these foreign chambers of commerce in Shanghai to the SPAFFC were included, covering areas such as applications for resumption of work, coordinated work resumption of key industrial and supply chains, logistics and transportation, and employees returning to work, especially in key positions.“We have learned of foreign enterprises' demands, and the difficulties which foreign enterprises have encountered in the epidemic prevention and control have really struck a chord," Jing said.

　　Zhang Ying(R), deputy director of the SMCEI, introduces the situation related to the resumption of work and production in Shanghai

According to Zhang Ying, the Shanghai municipal government has released a series of supportive measures to help enterprises resume production and overcome the difficulties, such as rent reduction, social insurance deferment, tax incentives, and financing support.

So far, Shanghai has included 5,872 companies on its four batches of white lists that allow businesses to resume their operations. Among them, 96.1, 77.9 and 55.4 percent of the enterprises in the first, second and third white lists respectively have restored their operations.

At present, more than 4,400 out of Shanghai's over 9,000 industrial enterprises above the designated size have restarted their business operations. The enterprises in the districts of Jinshan, Qingpu, Fengxian and Songjiang have resumed work at a rate of more than 50 percent.

　　Nakatsuka Junyichiro, Mitsubishi Corporation China Co., Ltd., Maximilian Butek, executive director at the German Chamber of Commerce in China, Shanghai, and Zhou Qing from Jabil Circuit (Shanghai) Co.,Ltd.(from left to right)

“Shanghai has promoted the resumption of work and production in an orderly manner. Apart from being an important international gateway, Shanghai is also a key point in industrial and supply chains at home and abroad,” said Rong Zhiqin, deputy director of the SMCEI.

The authority will also ensure smooth communication channels to respond actively to the concerns of foreign-invested enterprises, and promote more enterprises to resume work in an orderly manner.

Rong Zhiqin also said that Shanghai will continue to optimize the business environment for foreign-invested enterprises and support the majority of foreign-invested enterprises to achieve their higher-quality development.

Some representatives of foreign chambers and enterprises in Shanghai gave unanimously positive feedback after the online meeting, saying that they are grateful to the SPAFFC for building a bridge between enterprises and government. They also expressed their gratitude to the SMCEI for giving professional explanations of Shanghai's policies of work resumption amid the epidemic, which have responded to enterprises' demands in a timely, pragmatic and efficient manner and helped them to study and judge policies.