Webinar: Regional Cities in China – Opportunities for EU SMEs in Shanghai

Shanghai has always been considered a prime starting point for European companies looking to do business in China. With its 24 million inhabitants boasting the highest per-capita income in Mainland China, its status as a major financial centre and the busiest container port in the world, the city is known as the ‘showpiece’ of the booming economy of China.

The newly opened Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone (SH PFTZ), intended to boost China’s development towards an economy driven by the financial and service sectors, adds to the city’s image as a vanguard of China’s engagement with global business. Besides simplifying procedures for company setup, special regulations in the zone are intended to encourage investment in 18 subsectors of the country’s tightly regulated service industry, relax rules in the financial sector and foreign exchange control and optimise customs and trade supervision.

Join this webinar to learn more about:

• Shanghai Technology Transfer & Exchange, coordinator of the Enterprise Europe Network East China Consortium;
• the main features of the SH PFTZ;
• how the SH PFTZ compares to other foreign investment hotspots in China;
• how EU SMEs can benefit from the zones special regulations;
• challenges remaining for EU SMEs.

About the Speakers

Huilin Zhao

Mr Zhao, Vice President of the Shanghai Technology Transfer and Exchange (STTE), spearheads the International Technology Transfer Department as well as the Information Department at STTE. Before joining STTE in 2003, he spent eight years with the Shanghai Science & Technology Investment Co., Ltd as Deputy Manager of the Investment Division, which provided him with solid experience in management and investment. He received his Masters Degree in Computer and Information Sciences from Shanghai Jiaotong University.

Anthea Wong

Anthea joined the China practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1993. She leads a national team that specialises in providing China regulatory advisory and implementation services, ranging from market entry solutions, PRC structure set-up, cash repatriation strategies to restructuring solutions, such as equity transfer, M&A, liquidation, etc. She is familiar with China’s foreign investment environment and regulatory framework and has hands-on experience in assisting clients, especially those from the retail and consumer sector, to structure their operations in China and penetrate the market.

You can find the recorded video on Youtube: