Reporting to a plenary session of the local legislature, Mayor Chen Liangyu said Shanghai will continue to absorb major overseas investment and encourage the flow of overseas investment to its economic development zones as well as major industrial centers.

Chen said Shanghai will step up its efforts to open its service sector to overseas investors and to facilitate the establishment of regional headquarters, research and development institutions and procurement centers by multinationals.

Shanghai will continue to encourage the involvement of overseas investment in the restructuring of the state-owned sector, he said.

Chen said Shanghai will involve itself in international economic and technological cooperation and competition on a larger scale and in more fields by adjusting itself to the situation of economic globalization and China's entry into the World Trade Organization.

The city used US$19.26 billion of direct investment from outside the Chinese mainland in the past five years, while contractual direct foreign investment totaled US$34.29 billion.

Shanghai reported US$72.66 billion in foreign trade last year.

(Xinhua News Agency February 17, 2003)