Tourists take photos at the Bund in Shanghai. [Photo by Wang Gang/For China Daily]

The New Bund Global Economic Organization Cluster in Shanghai has welcomed more international economic organizations to set up offices in the area.

The cluster, inaugurated in Shanghai's Pudong New Area on July 28, 2021, is part of Pudong's efforts to attract more international economic organizations and multinational companies' regional headquarters.

It sits in the New Bund, or Qiantan, in the World Expo Area and has a service space of 3,500 square meters for globally influential international organizations and institutions. Twelve international organizations have settled in the area.

On July 28, the first anniversary of the cluster, four international organizations signed occupancy intention documents with the administrative committee of the World Expo Area to join the cluster during the cluster's development conference. Negotiations with another six organizations on settlement matters are underway.

The cluster welcomes four new members

The four newest members to join the cluster were the Institute of Printed Circuits (the United States) Shanghai Representative Office, the Consumer Goods Forum (France) Shanghai Representative Office, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (the United States) Shanghai Representative Office, and the Association for Materials Protection and Performance.

The Institute of Printed Circuits (IPC) is a global member-driven industry organization headquartered in Illinois, the United States. It has more than 3,000 member companies around the world, covering all facets of the electronics industry, including design, printed board manufacturing, electronics assembly and testing in more than 60 countries.

IPC was hoping to open a representative office in Asia in 2021, with Shanghai serving as the base for all of Asia. The New Bund International Economic Organization Cluster attracted attention during the site selection process and soon emerged as the "best choice".

IPC (Asia) President Xiao Qian expressed her excitement about making a contribution to China's electronics manufacturing industry, particularly the high-quality growth of high-end manufacturing. "We got in touch with the World Expo Area's administrative committee as soon as we saw a report about the cluster's inauguration to find out more about their plans, and we swiftly concluded that the cluster is the ideal location for IPC to establish a representative office in Asia when combined with the objectives and plans of IPC," Xiao said.

New Bund's "overseas-like" business environment is improving

The establishment of international organizations in the area owes to the New Bund's multiple policy advantages and its efforts to develop a new regional open economy and optimize global resource allocation.

At the cluster's development conference, international economic organizations agreed that the "overseas-like" business environment in the New Bund is getting better.

Creating a high-quality "overseas-like" business environment is one of the eight measures released last year by the World Expo Area to support the agglomeration and development of international economic organizations in the area. It requires the government to advance institutional opening-up and take the lead in establishing a modern economic system that is connected with international rules.

At the development conference, Pudong's commerce commission introduced an initiative that officially includes the administrative committee of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone as a professional supervisory unit in the economic and technological fields in the Shanghai List of Fields of Activity, Categories of Projects and Professional Supervisory Units for Overseas NGOs Carrying Out Activities, in order to solve the problem of some international economic organizations not being able to register due to the lack of a professional supervisory unit.

This initiative also means that the administrative committee of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, as a professional supervisory unit, will have a higher level of direct management power to provide a better business environment and create better conditions for more overseas NGOs to carry out their activities.

In order to further increase the support for international economic organizations and help them to carry out their work more smoothly, the administrative committee of the World Expo Area has continued to launch the Measures for Supporting the Agglomeration and Development of International Economic Organizations in the World Expo Area and implement rules after the eight supporting measures launched last year, including office rent subsidies, incentives for headquarters economy, chief representative incentives, special contribution incentives, registration services, convenient tax-related services, qualification certification services, and talent and career services.

The support policies are expected to help the area further attract more international economic organizations and international talents, and add momentum to regional development.

Agglomeration effect takes hold

One year after the establishment of the New Bund Global Economic Organization Cluster, 12 international economic organizations have gathered at the World Expo Area, including the International Chamber of Commerce, which represents the global business community in the United Nations, and the World Association of Nuclear Operators which helps its members who have an operational commercial nuclear power plant achieve the highest possible standards of nuclear safety.

Three of the world's five well-known arbitration institutions, including the International Chamber of Commerce Arbitration Court, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre and the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board have settled in the New Bund.

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, the international economic organizations have achieved remarkable results.

The Shanghai Representative Office of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (the United Kingdom) is stepping up preparations for building the Shanghai Center, the association's fifth global center, which will effectively raise China's voice in the field of global nuclear power safety standards. The United Nations Global Compact participated in the planning and organization of the Pudong sub-forum of the Hongqiao Forum of the China International Import Expo and recommended high-quality international organizations and enterprises to visit Pudong. The Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers has cooperated with the Vocational Qualification Center of the Ministry of Transport and the Shipping Office of Pudong to carry out the "dual certification" international shipping professional development program for seven consecutive years, which has given a boost to the construction of international shipping talent teams in Pudong.

Shi Yinhua, deputy director of the administrative committee of the World Expo Area, said that the World Expo Area will continue to promote the construction of the cluster in line with high-level international economic and trade rules, leverage the influence of international economic organizations to further enhance regional function and core competitiveness, speak out on the formulation of international rules, help Pudong integrate domestic and foreign resources, attract and cultivate international professional talents, and explore institutional innovation related to international economic organizations.