Agreements were reached on 10 Global Operation Program projects while another 10 enterprises signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Waigaoqiao Bonded Area Administration to officially join the program on Thursday.
The China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone launched the Global Operator Program (GOP) on December 16, 2020, to promote collaboration between companies at the global level.
Over the past two years, through the joint efforts of all parties, the program has achieved remarkable results, according to Zhao Yugang, deputy director of the Bonded Area Administration of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone Administrative Commission.
The scale and development quality of GOP enterprises have been continuously improved and global business expanded significantly, Zhao added, with the enterprise level improving, economic contribution increasing, and the leading effect being further highlighted.
The number of enterprises joining the GOP has increased from 41 to 103 at present, involving 20 countries and regions, compared with 11 at the beginning, and the number of industries involved has also increased from 12 to 18, he said.
The market operation scope of the 103 GOP enterprises currently covers six continents, involving 125 countries and regions, with the business operation scope of 71 firms spread across two continents and above, Zhao said.
Ten more enterprises signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Waigaoqiao Bonded Area Administration to officially join the Global Operation Program on Thursday.
In 2022, the operating income of these GOP firms is expected to reach 410 billion yuan (US$58.8 billion), an increase of 25 percent over 2020, accounting for one sixth of the total economic value of the bonded area, he noted.
In order to better assist the bonded area in implementing the global operator plan, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics set up the "Global Operator Program (GOP) Research and Promotion Center" in cooperation with the city government.
The center is to carry out researches on international economic and trade rules and the global industrial chain, value chain, supply chain, innovation chain and the business development model of transnational conglomerates. It is also to study the protection of foreign-related intellectual property rights, the construction of the legal protection system and etc.
In the future, the bonded area will integrate and streamline various services, while take the initiative to become the "government partner" of GOP enterprises, Zhao suggested.
Based on practical development needs of enterprises, the bonded area will accurately "tailor" support programs for GOP enterprises to grow together with them.
"The bottlenecks and problems encountered by GOP enterprises in the process of global resource allocation will become the source of institutional innovation in the Shanghai free trade zone, so that GOP enterprises can truly occupy the leading position of global coordination in the subdivided fields, and form a leading and exemplary effect in the country and even throughout the world," Zhao said.