On the morning of November 6, 2022, Hongqiao International Opening-Up Hub Building Forum & 2022 Hub Conference of the 5th Hongqiao International Economic Forum (Hongqiao Forum) was held at the National Convention and Exhibition Center (Shanghai).

With the theme of “Opening-up for a Better Future” and the main line of “Learn the Level of Opening-up in the Hub, and Observe the Development of the Hub in Hongqiao”, the forum invited top scholars and industry leaders at home and abroad to focus on the open hub, the strategies of the hub and the hub in development, aiming to show the opportunities of high-level opening-up and the requirements for high-quality development of the times, and highlight the main theme of opening-up and the new value of the hub.

Gong Zheng, Deputy Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and Mayor of Shanghai, said in his speech that the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has drawn up a grand blueprint for the comprehensive construction of a modern socialist country and the comprehensive promotion of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through modernization with Chinese characteristics. Based on President Xi Jinping’s clear positioning of Shanghai, we are accelerating the construction of a modern socialist metropolis with world influence and striving to be the front-runner in the comprehensive construction of a modern socialist country. The Hongqiao International Open Hub is a vivid practical example of Chinese modernization. It is necessary to enhance the level of the industry, increase the density of factors and expand the depth of openness based on “a wide transportation network”, “large-scale exhibitions” and “booming businesses”, further strengthen our international positioning, highlight our openness, leverage our hub functions, and strive to build a hub port with global connectivity, a key link in the unified national market and a new engine for the integration of the Yangtze River Delta. We look forward to the exchange of ideas, contribution of wisdom and consensus on the theme; we warmly welcome enterprises from home and abroad to come to Shanghai for investment and business, share the opportunities of the times and create a better future together.

In his video message, Wang Shouwen, China’s International Trade Negotiator and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, said that President Xi Jinping announced at the opening ceremony of the 1st China International Import Expo (CIIE) that he supports the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region, which has been elevated to a national strategy. As a leading zone for the opening-up of the Yangtze River Delta, the Hongqiao International Open Hub has continued to play its core functions of business, exhibition and transportation, and has always led the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta with a high level of coordinated opening-up. The Ministry of Commerce will work with relevant departments and provinces and cities in the Yangtze River Delta to thoroughly implement the guiding principles of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the important speech made by President Xi Jinping at the opening ceremony of the CIIE, and continue to support the construction of the Hongqiao International Open Hub.

Guo Lanfeng, member of the Party Group of the National Development and Reform Commission, delivered a video message. Wu Qing, member of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and Executive Vice Mayor, attended the parallel session, and Zong Ming, Vice Mayor of Shanghai and Director of the Hongqiao International Central Business District Administrative Committee, moderated the event. Wang Zhiheng, Deputy Governor of the Bank of China, delivered a speech.

Thomas Sargent, 2011 Nobel Prize laureate in Economics, pointed out that the purpose of human economic activity stems from the social nature of the economic activity itself, while convergence on hubs is by human nature. Openness and hubs are closely related, and they reinforce each other.

Liu Shijin, Deputy Director of the Economic Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, remarked that the Hongqiao International Central Business District should be at the forefront of urban agglomeration in terms of population density, frequency of information and concentration of knowledge, and explore leading standards in this regard.

Wang Yiming, Deputy Director of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said that the Hongqiao International Central Business District has a unique role in the dual cycle and is characterized by a new technology-enabled hub transformation in the new development paradigm.

Marcos Troyjo, President of the New Development Bank, proposed that thanks to technological breakthroughs and innovations facilitated by various policies, rules and institutional improvements, Hongqiao is becoming a thriving international hub of economic activity and innovation, contributing to China’s modernization and sustainable global development.

Vincent Lo, Chairman of Shui On Group, suggested that Shanghai should be committed to enhancing the core functions of Hongqiao International Central Business District, accelerating the development of a “two-way opening and two-way linkage” hub with international influence, and creating an important bridge and linkage leading the Yangtze River Delta, connecting the whole country, and linking domestic and overseas businesses.

Zhou Kui, Partner of Sequoia China, said that Hongqiao’s superior industrial ecology could give more impetus to enterprises with the support of the industrial system featuring “four high-level industrial forms and five new industry categories”, owing to the huge dividends released by the hub in terms of efficiency improvement and the aggregation of new productivity.

Han Weiwen, President of Bain & Company China and member of Bain Global’s Board of Directors, emphasized that the post-urbanization hub economy has a huge role to play for cities and industries, and can promote profound changes in urban development patterns and create huge opportunities for enterprises.

During the panel discussion, representatives of entrepreneurs living and rooted in Hongqiao, including Wei Zhe, Chairman and Founding Partner of Vision Knight Capital, Cui Zhihui, Executive Director and CEO of ManpowerGroup Greater China, Ye Fei, President and CEO of Michelin China, Liu Zhicheng, Chairman and CEO of Buy Quickly Group, and Yang Mingchao, Founder and Chairman of Hot Pot Circle, shared the business opportunities and development achievements created by basing ourselves on Hongqiao Hub, benefiting from the open environment and gathering global resources.

Panel Discussion