Visa-free entry of up to 60 days will be granted for overseas visitors to carry out business meetings, exchanges, and cross-border collaboration starting next year at a new business hub in the Pudong New Area.
Wu Jincheng, director of Pudong New Area, said at a promotion conference on Wednesday that visitors could make a 30-day visa-free stop with an extension period of one month upon application at the Shanghai Eastern Hub International Business Cooperation Zone, to go into use next year.
The construction of the cooperation zone is progressing smoothly and this move could further facilitate cross-border activities such as business meetings and negotiations, exhibitions, and international training, he added.
The Pudong International Airport handles throughput of around 55 million passengers each year, Wu said, and it has set up a one-stop service center to facilitate those using the 144-hour visa-free transit service at the airport.
The cooperation zone is an 880,000-square-meter area neighboring the Pudong International Airport, and the general plan of the construction zone was approved by the State Council in February this year.
The cooperation zone is a part of the 7-square-kilometer core area of the "Eastern Hub" under construction.
To better exert Shanghai's strengths in opening up, the cooperation zone would create a highly convenient vehicle for international business communications, better connecting domestic and international markets, so as to make a greater contribution to promoting high-level opening-up.
It will complete basic construction by 2025, with basic operation beginning in 2028, and is expected to become fully established by 2030.
