In 2025, Shanghai further optimized its business environment by accomplishing 58 reform measures and implementing 10 key missions, according to the government work report delivered by Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng at the opening of the fourth session of the 16th Shanghai Municipal People's Congress, the annual session of the municipal legislature, on Feb 3.

Highlights in 2025

In 2025, Shanghai enhanced pro-business services, ensuring enterprises easier access to policy support. At the municipal and district levels, 709 policies were made accessible without application, benefiting enterprises over 6.28 million times.

The city also boosted its "service packages" for key enterprises, addressing 13,000 company requests.

Shanghai launched a campaign to regulate administrative law enforcement concerning businesses, with the "inspection code" widely applied to make law enforcement actions more transparent and address the issue of multiple and repetitive inspections by different departments. The items of cross-departmental integrated regulation expanded from 39 to 91, reducing burdens on businesses and improving overall enforcement efficiency.

The "one-stop service" system, the "all-in-one business license" program, and the notification-commitment system for administrative licensing further yielded positive results.

The Government Online-Offline Shanghai e-government service platform achieved a first-time resolution rate of over 90 percent, while the Integrated Online Administration platform further improved emergency command and grassroots governance.

Progress during the 14th Five-Year Plan period

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), Shanghai aligned its reforms with World Bank B-READY standards, achieving a number of key milestones. Of the 59 metrics evaluated in business surveys, 22 reached world best levels.

Foreign investment actually utilized exceeded $100 billion, with the number of certified regional headquarters of multinational corporations rising from 771 to 1,076 and foreign-funded R&D centers climbing from 481 to 636.

Source: Official WeChat account of the General Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government at "shanghaifabu"