A promotional event was held at the Shanghai Tower on Friday as part of an effort to expand the spillover effect of the China International Import Expo and attract more high-quality investment.

The 2020 Shanghai City Promotion Convention, with a theme of "Embracing the CIIE, Sharing a Future," was held virtually and offline attended by around 200 representatives from multinational, state-owned and private enterprises, professional service providers, foreign consulates in Shanghai, international organizations and investment promotion agencies.

Senior officials from the municipal government updated participants on the city's latest achievements and efforts in improving its business environment and overall competitiveness.

Dozens of global heads of multinational enterprises with a local presence expressed their confidence in investing in Shanghai, while senior executives from nine companies, mainly from overseas, shared their successes and optimism in doing business in Shanghai, mainly attributing their growth to the city's vital economy, robust market demand, support policies, improving business environment as well as a strong talent pool.

In one of the city's latest moves to make Shanghai a more friendly international metropolis for both individuals and enterprises, an international version of its one-stop government affairs service platform, Government Online-Offline Shanghai, was launched on Friday, providing guidance for newcomers to Shanghai from outside the Chinese mainland.

In the first nine months of this year, paid-in value of foreign investment exceeded US$15.5 billion in Shanghai, an increase of 6.1 percent from the same period a year ago. The growth was achieved on the basis of a 13 percent solid rise registered during the same nine-month period in 2019, according to the Shanghai Commission of Commerce.

As home base to the largest number of regional headquarters and foreign-funded research and development centers in China, Shanghai saw an addition of 38 regional headquarters of multinational companies as well as 14 foreign-invested R&D centers between January and September, bringing the city's total number to 758 and 475, respectively.

Foreign-funded enterprises have been playing an increasingly important role in the city's development and have already become a key engine for local economic growth.

Around 60,000 foreign-funded enterprises in Shanghai now contribute more than a quarter of the city's regional gross product, over a third of its tax revenue, about two-thirds of its overall volume of imports and exports, more than a fifth of its industrial output, and around a fifth of its total employment, according to the latest data released by the commerce commission.