The Lujiazui financial hub in Shanghai's Pudong New Area. [Photo/Xinhua]

The recently-released guidelines for foreign investment in Shanghai summarize three major characteristics of Shanghai in attracting foreign investment: stable and sustained financial opening-up, strong momentum in its headquarters economy, and continuous improvements in its business environment, according to People's Daily.

Hua Yuan, director of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, said that Shanghai has implemented a raft of financial support policies to soften the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, which has had a severe influence on the global economy.

Work has begun on the city's three significant new strategic tasks. The positive effects of the China International Import Expo (CIIE) are gradually appearing, a series of countercyclical regulation measures are in place, and policies of international opening up and creating new consumer demand are all triggering new growth and business hotspots.

Stable and sustained financial opening-up

A total of five foreign financial institutions held their "cloud opening" ceremonies in Shanghai on March 20, to celebrate their settling in to the Lujiazui financial hub in Shanghai's Pudong New Area.

"This is a major milestone and we are looking forward to entering our next exciting phase of growth with greater capabilities … We are fully committed to investing our global resources and expertise to serve our clients and support financial market development in China," said Mark Leung, CEO of JPMorgan China.

The official opening of the five foreign financial institutions is in line with Shanghai's goal of building itself into a global hub for asset management and insurance companies.

Strong momentum in the headquarters economy

Not only has Shanghai hosted the headquarters of many multinational companies throughout the pandemic, more multinational companies are planning to set up headquarters in the city.

Shanghai saw rising foreign capital inflows totaling about $4.67 billion during the first quarter of this year, up 4.5 percent year-on-year, according to the municipal government.

Continuous improvement in the business environment

Eager to boost its economic growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, Shanghai announced 24 new policies on April 10 to further improve the city's business environment and attract more foreign investors.

The Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce systematically visited 720 regional headquarters of transnational corporations in Shanghai, sorted out and summarized 553 problems, and solved these issues with a resolution rate of about 98.7 percent.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the development and opening up of Shanghai's Pudong New Area. It is also a decisive year in Shanghai's efforts to become an international financial center.

China's sincerity in expanding the opening-up of its economy and the ability to attract foreign investment has made Shanghai an inclusive city. Shanghai will blaze a new trail in foreign investment, and create a bright future through innovation and a wider range of opening-up policies.