It is backed by the Yangtze River and faces the Pacific Ocean.

  Named after "Sea", Shanghai has a mind that embraces all rivers. It is a "bridgehead" for China to go to the world and a window for the world to observe China.

  "Eating open meals" is the way Shanghai can reach the 5 trillion yuan urban economic scale, and it is also the future for Shanghai to move forward firmly.

  There is tonnage and more station. Shanghai is like a ship riding the wind and waves, penetrating the wind and rain full of uncertainty, moving forward through the waves, and seeking the certainty of "beauty and beauty" with the world.

  Symbiosis: Forging toughness on the chain

  From April 23 to May 2, the 21st Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition will be held. At the National Convention and Exhibition Center (Shanghai), nicknamed "Four Leaf Crocodile", there are endless "foreign faces", and conversations in English, French, Italian, Japanese and Korean are heard one after another. In the office temporarily built by the organizer, the flow of people at the auto show was jumping in real time on the TV screen: two days before the opening, nearly 10,000 overseas exhibitors came to "see the market".

  This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Shanghai Auto Show. The exhibition hall area has expanded from the initial 10,000 square meters to more than 360,000 square meters. 193 press conferences and the launch of more than 100 new cars have made the Shanghai Auto Show the world's largest and highest-level top auto show.

  "For us, China is far more than just the world's largest automobile market, but also has a resilient supply chain and a technology-friendly innovation environment." Kang Linsong, chairman of the board of directors of Mercedes-Benz Group Co., Ltd., said that China's importance in Mercedes-Benz's global network is increasing day by day.

  Taking the auto show as the incision reflects an indisputable fact: Shanghai and the world's "two-way" industrial chain has long been in you and I, and it is you who have made me and I have made you.

  On March 21, just over a month after its official production, Tesla's Shanghai Energy Storage Super Factory officially started exports, and the first batch of commercial energy storage batteries set off from Shanghai Port on a freighter and headed to Australia. Mike Snyder, vice president of energy storage and charging at Tesla, said that this means that Tesla's energy storage battery production capacity has been produced in China and delivered globally, and products are expected to enter more overseas markets in the future.

　　This is Tesla's Shanghai Energy Storage Super Factory shot on February 8. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Fang Zhe

  On April 22, the Shanghai Municipal Government and Toyota Motor Company officially signed a strategic cooperation agreement, marking the official launch of the Lexus pure electric vehicle and battery R&D and production company established by Toyota Motor in Jinshan District, Shanghai. This signing is not only an important strategic measure for Toyota Motor to deploy in the Chinese market, but also injects strong impetus into the development of the new energy vehicle industry in Shanghai and even the Yangtze River Delta region.

  Since the beginning of the year, good news has been heard in Shanghai that foreign-funded enterprises have increased their investment, which is inseparable from the resilience of Shanghai's industrial chain.

  When announcing the investment, Toyota made it clear that the new company will rely on the advanced and mature industrial chain foundation, logistics network, talent system and market size of Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta region to reflect the expectations of Chinese customers into the products at "Chinese speed". Supply chain and cost advantages, market potential and policy support, talent and technical reserves are also important factors for Tesla to select the first energy storage super factory outside the United States in Shanghai.

  As the forefront of my country's opening-up and an international metropolis that deeply connects the world, its economic outward orientation is high and it is considered a "trump card" of Shanghai's economy. However, some people are also worried that high extroversion means that when uncertain factors increase, the pressure on urban economic development is greater?

  Shanghai's strong industrial chain resilience allows enterprises to seek inward, grow upward, and grow upward when facing uncertainty in the external environment. As the world economy faces the severe test of the obvious rise of unilateralism, Shanghai foreign trade enterprises have turned pressure into motivation, actively explored the domestic trade market, and moved more actively to both ends of the "smile curve" of the value chain.

  The heads of foreign trade enterprises lined up to negotiate with e-commerce platforms. They came with samples and returned with the intention of subsequent cooperation. The e-commerce platform organized a special team to "export to domestic sales" to grasp the personalized needs of foreign trade enterprises one by one... Early in the morning on April 18, 16 leading e-commerce platforms and nearly 80 foreign trade enterprises launched a "hot" "Shanghai e-commerce helps foreign trade to expand domestic sales matchmaking meeting".

  "No matter what, we have to find a 'new way', there is always a way." An hour in advance, Yu Jianfen, head of the "old foreign trade" Shanghai Tahui Knitting Factory, rushed to the docking meeting with samples early, "Our seamless wool textile technology is leading, and there may be a chance in the domestic trade market."

  "Your needs are very suitable for connecting with us. Our colleagues will contact you specifically to promote follow-up work." Soon, at the docking meeting, Yu Jianfen found Jingdong Xi and launched the "first step" of foreign trade to domestic trade.

  Douyin Group invites high-quality experts to conduct special live broadcasts of foreign trade products, and launches "Foreign Trade Excellent Products Recommended Officials"; Bailian integrates Bailian's online and offline resources through all channels and opens a "Foreign Trade Boutique Welcome Home" theme event store; Taotian Group helps foreign trade companies expand new markets such as Southeast Asia, and "turn from outside to outside"... At the docking meeting, many e-commerce companies lined up in front of the "negotiation positions", and the support provided by different e-commerce platforms showed their strengths.

  According to the Shanghai Municipal Commerce Commission, in order to reduce the cost of domestic sales for foreign trade enterprises, Shanghai will rely on relevant platforms to provide policy consultation, standard formulation and revision, product inspection and testing and certification services for domestic sales enterprises; support CCC certification agencies to streamline and optimize the compulsory product certification procedures for domestic sales; encourage banks to innovate financial support for domestic and foreign trade integration methods, and support commercial banks to provide diversified financing support for domestic sales enterprises.

  Zhang Bin, founder of Shanghai Silede Stainless Steel Products Co., Ltd., said that on the one hand, the company actively explores the domestic trade market, and on the other hand, it will focus on the research and development of its own unique competitive products. It will continue to develop and launch carbon-neutral thermos cups and pot products to tap the potential of green products.

  "We are full of confidence in the future." This is Zhang Bin's voice and the voice of thousands of Shanghai foreign trade companies.

  Create a new "new" opportunity together

  The regional headquarters of multinational companies with increasingly high energy levels, innovations from "run side by side" to "leading" foreign-funded R&D centers... As of the end of February this year, the regional headquarters and foreign-funded R&D centers of Shanghai multinational companies reached 1,027 and 597 respectively. Shanghai is taking advantage of the openness to create a "tropical rainforest"-style innovation ecosystem and becoming the source of innovative technology.

  After getting off the plane from Pudong Airport in the early morning, Barbara Laverno, deputy CEO of L'Oreal Group's global R&D, Innovation and Technology Affairs, spent a tense week in Shanghai. Not only did he "suck" in the Innovation R&D Center in Jinqiao to gain an in-depth understanding of the R&D progress of the Chinese team, but he also met with many young scientific and technological innovation companies in China and inspected the next investment plan as an "investor".

  In Barbara Laverno's view, the real innovation of "in China and for the world" is not only about continuous additional investment by multinational companies, but also about promoting R&D achievements originated from China to the world, but more importantly, establishing an "innovation ecosystem" in which Chinese and foreign companies grow together in China.

  In just two weeks, L'Oreal announced several "big moves" in investment: it cooperated with Kaihui Fund and Shanghai Jing'an District to establish the "Kaihui Chuangmei Future Fund" fund, focusing on investing in beauty brands and related companies in the growth stage, and cooperated with Tiantu Investment to establish the "Beautiful Pilot Fund", aiming to invest in early-stage companies in the same field; the L'Oreal PRO light energy hair dryer AirLight Pro, developed in cooperation with the Chinese science and technology company "Ruyuan Technology", which it previously invested, welcomed its first launch in China in Shanghai...

  "This not only proves China's position as the source of the global innovation market, but also shows that it has a significant 'extraversion' in innovation and research and development in China," said Barbara Laverno.

  Large foreign-funded enterprises have become "daily" in Shanghai.

  After more than 30 years of deep cultivation in China, Siemens Medical has 6 R&D and innovation bases and 2 innovation centers in China. Among them, China's first open innovation center established in Shanghai in 2021 is particularly eye-catching.

  Wang Hao, president of Siemens Medical Greater China and member of the Global Leadership Committee, introduced that as of now, Siemens Medical Shanghai Innovation Center has built an "innovation circle" for industry, academia, research, and medical investment, empowering 64 Chinese science and technology innovation enterprises, incubating 87 related intellectual property rights, and helping 5 companies obtain 165 million yuan of social capital investment.

  He Dongbin, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Commerce Commission, said that Shanghai is still one of the most favored investment destinations for foreign investors. The "new three" that attract Shanghai foreign investment now not only has the advantages of China's super-large-scale consumer market and the industrial advantages of a complete scale and rich categories, but also has the advantages of innovative R&D highland composed of talent gathering, infrastructure and high-quality business environment.

  In response to the needs of foreign-funded enterprises and China, in February this year, Shanghai formulated and issued the "Several Measures to Support Multinational Corporation Regional Headquarters to Improve Energy Levels", encouraging the headquarters to gather functions such as R&D and innovation, financial management, investment decision-making, procurement and distribution, supply chain management, and shared services to become a multi-functional headquarters; pay more attention to the cultivation of high-level headquarters, encourage the headquarters to be upgraded to the Asia-Pacific headquarters, establish the global headquarters of the sub-track business departments such as biomedicine, integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, new materials, and new energy, and provide greater financial support.

  Win-win: Benefit the world with "sincerity"

  The long-distance flight was 32 hours, just for a three-hour docking meeting - Bent Mortensen, the founder of Inuit Seal Oil at the CIIE, felt it was "very worth it".

  "In January this year, when I attended the CIIE promotion meeting in Copenhagen, I decided to sign up for the exhibition. We have never been involved in the Chinese market. The CIIE will become our 'first step' in entering the Chinese market." This time, Bent Mortensen made a special trip from Greenland to rush to the pre-exhibition supply and demand docking activity of the dairy and agricultural products section of the 8th CIIE Agricultural and Food Products Exhibition Area. "The docking meeting allowed me to meet new Chinese friends, and I will also come to the CIIE site in November."

  With Shanghai as the center of the circle, a series of visions of "benefiting the world together" are turning into a reality of "benefiting millions of homes around the world".

  As the world's first national-level expo with imports as the theme, the China International Import Expo has attracted more than 180 countries, regions and international organizations to participate in the exhibition since the seventh session, 23,000 overseas exhibitors participated in the exhibition, 31 countries served as the host country of the national exhibition, and the corporate exhibition displays nearly 3,000 representative new products, new technologies and new services. The intended transaction amount exceeds US$500 billion, with a total of more than 2.9 million professional visitors registered, and the number of visitors exceeds 4.9 million.

  Bangladesh's jute handicrafts, Syria's ancient soap, Pakistan's salt lamps, Zambia's honey, Tanzanian cashews, Ethiopian coffee, Rwanda's chili... The CIIE gives small and medium-sized enterprises around the world the opportunity to go to the center of the world's stage and "compete" with the Fortune 500. The once "unknown" products have transformed into hot products, entering thousands of households in China, and bringing tangible hope for employment and development to the local area.

  Xiao Zhen, CEO of the Swiss Center Group, one of Shanghai’s global partners in promoting foreign investment, said that under the acceleration of the CIIE, the Swiss Center has continuously "connected" outstanding overseas companies to Shanghai at a rate of 5 to 10 per year: the company has currently set up an office point in Hongqiao and Waigaoqiao, with a total of 26 overseas start-ups working here, "I hope to use Shanghai’s open highland as a 'springboard' to deepen our roots in China."

  Small and medium-sized enterprises around the world are coming, and Shanghai enterprises are also actively contributing "Shanghai wisdom" to the transformation of global infrastructure construction.

  In the second phase of Khalifa Port of Abu Dhabi, UAE, 12 unmanned Q-Truck are efficiently assisting ship loading and unloading to ensure continuous operation under high temperature weather; in the UK's largest port of Felisdu Port, the scale of new energy unmanned commercial vehicle fleet will reach 100 units - Xijing Technology, which comes from Shanghai's "Silicon Lane", injects "Chinese wisdom" into 28 countries and regions around the world with "artificial intelligence + new energy".

  From Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan, wind power and photovoltaic projects have grown one after another in the desert Gobi, bringing green parity electricity to the residents of these countries who jointly build the "Belt and Road" and also helping the local area obtain the power infrastructure urgently needed for industrial development. Shanghai enterprise Huantai Energy has been connected to the grid, built and to be built overseas in a scale of nearly 2.6GW, and has developed into the largest and most competitive clean energy supplier in Central Asia, lighting up the ancient Silk Road with green.

  "Shanghai is not only the 'hire port' for the world to enter China, but also the 'hire port' for China to go to the world. The cohesion of win-win with the world is growing exponentially." said Tan Limin, chairman of Shanghai Xijing Technology Co., Ltd. (Reporter Wang Yongqian and Zhou Rui)

[Editor in charge: Cheng Lan]