Shanghai moves to open wider to foreign investors

Shanghai authorities rolled out new measures Thursday to woo foreign investors, cutting restrictions on their access to the city's service and manufacturing sectors.

Accounting, auditing, architectural design and rating services, as well as financial services, will open wider to foreign investment, according to a directive issued by the Shanghai municipal government.

In addition, the government will press ahead with "orderly" opening of fields such as telecommunications, the Internet, culture, education and transportation, and welcomes foreign investment in government-backed science and technology projects, said the directive.

In the industrial sector, limits for foreign investors will be eased in the production of rail transit equipment, motorbikes and fuel.

The government supports foreign capital's involvement in advanced manufacturing industries, such as new information technology, new materials, intelligent equipment, biomedicine, aerospace, new energy and Internet-based automobiles.

It also hopes foreign investors could help sharpen the competitive edge of the city's traditional auto, steel, shipping and chemical industries.

What's more, new measures to open financial, telecommunications, the Internet, cultural, shipping, and maintenance services will be piloted in the Shanghai free trade zone.

By 2016, Shanghai had attracted more than 80,000 projects funded by foreign capital, with contractual foreign investments totaling around 400 billion U.S. dollars.

Last year, foreign-funded enterprises, the number of which accounted for 2 percent of the city's total, contributed 27 percent of the city's GDP and 20 percent of employment.

Foreign-funded enterprises have played an important role in Shanghai's efforts to make itself an international center for the economy, finance, trade and shipping, as well as for scientific and technological innovation, according to the local commerce commission. Endi