April 13 – Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng met with Olaf Lies, minister-president of the German state of Lower Saxony.

Gong said Shanghai is eager to deepen cooperation with Lower Saxony across a broad range of fields to achieve higher-level mutual benefit.

He welcomed more enterprises from Lower Saxony to participate in the China International Import Expo and increase their investment in Shanghai. He also assured that Shanghai will actively support the city's companies in investing and doing business in the German state. Additionally, he called for closer cooperation in areas such as automobile manufacturing, high-end equipment, and artificial intelligence.

Lies said Volkswagen has enjoyed more than four decades of successful cooperation with Shanghai, evolving from bringing German expertise to China to pursuing joint innovation. He expressed hope that both sides will further strengthen collaboration in research and development and jointly explore international markets.

He also emphasized the importance of closer exchanges and cooperation in areas such as ports, as well as more exchanges among university teachers and students, so that young people can better understand each other and deepen their knowledge of each other's cities and industries.

April 16 – Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng met with Mario Kunasek, governor of the Austrian state of Styria. The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding on friendly cooperation and exchanges for the 2026-30 period.

Gong said this year marks the 55th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Austria. Since establishing friendly relations in 2017, Shanghai and Styria have carried out extensive and practical cooperation in areas such as economy, trade, investment, and higher education.

He emphasized that Shanghai is ready to use the signing of the new memorandum as an opportunity to further broaden exchanges and cooperation between the two sides and achieve higher-level mutual benefit.

He called for closer collaboration in economic and trade ties and industrial investment, welcomed more Styrian companies to participate in the China International Import Expo and increase their investment in Shanghai, while encouraging practical cooperation in sectors including mobility, green and low-carbon development, biomedicine, and creative design.

Kunasek said the signing of the memorandum marks a new milestone in bilateral exchanges and a new starting point. He expressed hope for deeper cooperation across various fields, the exploration of new opportunities, and joint efforts toward greater development.