More than 200 multinational corporations (MNCs) have established their regional headquarters in Shanghai, making the city one of the most attractive places on the Chinese mainland to set up regional headquarters.

Yesterday 19 MNCs received certificates registering Shanghai as the location for their regional headquarters, lifting the total to 206.

The 19 companies included Capgemini, IKEA, HKC (Holdings) Ltd, Applied Materials Inc, Toyota Boshoku and Ingersoll Rand.

Among them, United States-based Air Products was the 200th to be certified. Paul Thomas, Air Products vice president of engineering in Asia, deemed it a double honor to get the certificate with a memorable number.

"Shanghai, as an important city, provides us with a strategic link to China and the rest of Asia," he said, "The city is going to host the World Expo in 2010 and we are happy to grow hand-in-hand with Shanghai and China."

He also expressed appreciation for the strong support by the Shanghai government in his company's expansion in China and the Asia Pacific Region.

To encourage more MNCs to establish key operational centers in Shanghai, which will help the city upgrade its economic functionality and move closer to being a financial center, the government amended a regulation last month to make the city more attractive.

The Provisions of Shanghai Municipality on Encouraging Multinational Corporations to Establish Regional Headquarters, issued by the Shanghai Municipal Government on July 7, lowered the standard of the accumulated paid-in capital invested by the parent company within China from US$30 million to US$10 million.

Also, newly established holding companies and management companies certified as regional quarters may be granted startup and rental subsidies.

The legal representative and senior executive of the regional headquarters may also be granted incentives by the local government in accordance with the relevant regulations, the new regulation said.

Yesterday, senior officials from the city's financial, foreign exchange, customs and personnel departments all expressed their commitment to enhancing the support for MNCs with regional headquarters in Shanghai.

Tang Dengjie, Shanghai's vice mayor, said the city would boost both hardware environment and services to attract more MNCs to set up their regional headquarters in Shanghai.

The city will make it more convenient for MNCs to get visas for employees, to have funds changed into foreign currency, to recruit talent and to transport products to other markets.

(Shanghai Daily August 29, 2008)