Pudong New Area is located in eastern Shanghai. [Photo/WeChat ID: pudongtalenthub]

In mid-July, Pudong New Area celebrated the third anniversary of the launching of its efforts to become a leading area for socialist modernization. Over the past three years, Pudong has been embracing higher-level reform and opening up and forging new drivers for high-quality development to comprehensively expand from factor-based opening up to institutional opening up and take the lead in setting up a new system of an open economy that is in line with the rules of international practice.

Solid progress in piloting comprehensive reform

New breakthroughs have been made in the deepening of institutional opening up. The development of the Shanghai eastern hub international business cooperation zone and the central functional area of China's first pilot zone for Silk Road e-commerce cooperation commenced. The registration of the first foreign arbitration institution in China, the Korea Commercial Arbitration Court Shanghai Representative Office, was approved, and the first representative office of a foreign patent agency in the Middle East landed in Pudong. The Shanghai Municipal People's Government implemented the provisions on promoting the innovative development of standardization in Pudong New Area, and the first joint enterprise standard was formulated with the participation of the world's top 500 foreign-funded enterprises.

Progress has been made in the market-based allocation of production factors. It accelerated the exploration of cooperation between high-quality high schools and top universities in China in the building of a joint model for cultivating top-notch innovative talents in mathematics and science, and launched a three-year action program. The Shanghai Data Exchange has launched the international board for data trading and has taken the lead in forming a typical case of incorporating data assets into financial statements.

The core functions of the international economic, financial, trade, shipping, and scientific and technological innovation centers were upgraded. The first containerized freight futures variety, the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (European Line) Futures, finished the delivery of its first expiring contract, completing the process from listing to trading, settlement and delivery. The stamp duty exemption policy for offshore trade in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone and Lin-gang Special Area was implemented, effectively reducing the operating costs of multinational enterprises and better supporting the development of offshore economic and trade business by corporate headquarters. China's first bonded LNG refueling business for international vessels was carried out in Shanghai's Yangshan Port.

The support of regulations and laws in Pudong has become more powerful. To date, the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress has formulated and issued 18 laws and regulations for Pudong New Area, involving the innovative development of standardization, green finance, financial leasing and high-level intellectual property protection, and Pudong New Area has cumulatively issued 26 management measures related to exempting mandatory product certification and unmanned equipment, which have offered significant support for reform, innovation and economic and social development.

Fast and steady progress in building high-level institutional opening-up

Last year was the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (SHFTZ). Now entering a new era, relevant state departments and Shanghai municipality introduced a series of new policies for greater reform and wider opening up.

SHFTZ is speeding up to fully align with international high-standard economic and trade rules. For example, according to measures related to "supporting pilot areas in carrying out pilot projects for importing remanufactured products in key industries" and "financial management departments in pilot areas should follow the principle of consistency for domestic and foreign enterprises," foreign enterprises such as Volvo Construction Equipment (China) Co Ltd and Swiss Re Corporate Solutions have benefited from these new policies.

On Sept 1, 2023, Volvo imported a remanufactured engine for articulated off-highway dump trucks, which was declared at Pudong New Area customs and shipped directly to the company's warehouse. "This engine equates to a new product in terms of quality and safety and environmental performance. The smooth customs clearance of the first single shipment has given us confidence in carrying out overseas remanufacturing product import business in the future," said Chen Chaoping, vice president of Volvo Construction Equipment Service and Spare Parts.

As a foreign-funded insurance company, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions has witnessed the development of the SHFTZ over the past ten years. Benefiting from the SHFTZ's further opening up of the financial service industry to the outside world and the implementation of the principle of consistency for domestic and foreign enterprises, the company's shareholders have decided to increase their investment in the SHFTZ. Pan Shaohui, general manager of Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, said that the whole approval process for the capital increase is efficient and transparent, which enables the company to more quickly invest its capital in business development in China. After the capital increase, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions will utilize the company's global network platform and rich resources to provide insurance protection for Chinese and international enterprises.

All-out efforts to promote high-quality economic development

In order to accelerate the development of a modernized industrial system through industrial innovation promoted by scientific and technological innovation, Pudong New Area plans to form six hard-core industrial clusters by 2030, each with an output value exceeding 100 billion yuan ($13.88 billion), raise the total scale of the three leading industries of integrated circuits, biomedicine and artificial intelligence to at least 1 trillion yuan, and forge a number of representative industrial chains with obvious agglomeration effects and outstanding innovation capabilities. By 2035, it hopes to complete the modernized industrial system and keep the innovation, competitiveness, and overall strength of its hard-core industrial clusters ahead of global cities.

On this new journey, Pudong New Area is committed to reform, opening up, and innovation. It will accelerate the development of a modern industrial system, spare no effort in the pursuit of high-quality economic development, and take more positive and effective actions to become a leading area for socialist modernization.