Foreign businesses are confident of Shanghai’s growth prospect and eager to engage in the city’s various development strategies, participants said during a briefing by Shanghai’s commerce affairs yesterday.

More than 500 people, including foreign diplomats, executives of foreign-invested companies in Shanghai and local government officials, attended the annual meeting hosted by the Shanghai Commission of Commerce.

“Shanghai will try to maintain a stable economic growth rate and accelerate the industrial restructuring to further raise the city’s growth quality,” Vice Mayor Zhou Bo told the gathering. “We sincerely hope foreign investors will continue to help us in the process.”

Lee Min-ho, director-general of Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) in Shanghai, said South Korean companies are expecting more interaction with China after the implementation of the free trade agreement signed last year between the two countries.

“Our investors are confident that bilateral trade will get a boost this year thanks to the free trade agreement, in particular in areas like fashion, health, cosmetics and tourism,” Lee said.

“Shanghai is an important hub for China’s trade of consumer goods ... we will enhance our operation here,” Lee said.

Indonesia’s Consul General in Shanghai, Kenssy D Ekaningsih, said her country was eager to engage in China’s Belt and Road initiative.

“We have seen massive scale of operation in place under the initiative in the past two years,” Ekaningsih said. “It is of huge importance for us because Indonesia stands at a core geographic location in the maritime Silk Road ... we hope our presence in Shanghai will play a constructive role in bolstering bilateral economic and cultural interaction,” Ekaningsih said.