Shanghai set to become global hub in multiple fields by year end

Shanghai's goal of becoming an international hub for economy, finance, trade, shipping and technology innovation will be accomplished by the end of this year, Ruan Qing, deputy director of the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, said at a meeting on Wednesday.

According to Ruan, Shanghai's gross domestic product (GDP) surged to 3.82 trillion yuan in 2019, up from 3.67 billion yuan in 1949.

The construction of a livable city with a suitable working environment is another objective the city has set for its future development.

Official figures show that the city's favorable employment policies have helped create around 600,000 new jobs every year, and the registered unemployment rate in urban area has hovered at 4.5 percent or below for 13 consecutive years.

In 2019, the per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents in Shanghai reached 73,615 yuan and 33,195 yuan respectively, ranking first in 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in the country.

As part of efforts to better serve the public, the one-stop approach offered by an integrated offline-online system in the city has since 2018 enhanced the government's efficiency via technologies like big data.

The system enables both online and offline information to be shared across different levels in the city and allows registered users to complete all tasks and processes in a single visit.

According to Zhu Junwei, deputy director of the Big Data Center in Shanghai, more than 30 million users have registered on the system's portal. Because of data sharing, citizens no longer need to submit similar document to different departments. This has in turn improved processing efficiency.

Compared with 2018, the total number of materials submitted by residents dropped by 52.9 percent last year, while the time it took to complete tasks was cut by 59.8 percent.