In the first three quarters of this year, the gross domestic product of Shanghai exceeded 4 trillion yuan, the transaction volume of the financial market increased by 12.7% year-on-year, and the output value of the three leading industries, manufacturing, increased by 8.5% year-on-year; In the first 11 months, Shanghai Port completed a container throughput of 50.56 million TEUs, which is expected to reach a new high for the whole year and remain the world's top for 16 consecutive years... A series of impressive data demonstrate that the construction of Shanghai's "Five Centers" has become the core engine driving high-quality economic and social development. The just held Central Economic Work Conference requires that national and local "15th Five Year Plan" and special plans be formulated in accordance with the "Proposal" of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, to promote high-quality and sustainable development. As we move towards the 15th Five Year Plan, the construction of Shanghai's "Five Centers" is continuously strengthening its "four major functions", accelerating the formation of overall effects, platform effects, amplification effects, and radiation effects, bravely undertaking missions, and breaking through waves. Multi point breakthrough and energy leap: On December 8, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Shanghai center officially opened as the Asia Pacific regional center of the international organization with remarkable achievements in the construction of the "five centers". Since the beginning of this year, the International Operation Center for Digital RMB and the China Capital Market Society have successively been established in Shanghai; The elements of technological innovation continue to gather, and currently there are 86 national key laboratories in Shanghai, achieving full coverage in 14 fields, and laying out the construction of 12 high-quality incubators and 7 high-quality concept verification platforms; In recent years, Shanghai has taken accelerating the construction of the "Five Centers" as the main direction, coordinating and driving various aspects of economic and social development, adhering to overall planning and coordinated promotion, focusing on breakthroughs and leading by example, and continuously improving the city's level and core competitiveness. Gu Jun, Deputy Secretary General of the Shanghai Municipal Government and Director of the Shanghai Development and Reform Commission, introduced the positive progress of Shanghai's "Five Centers" construction: on the basis of entering the "5 trillion city" in 2024 and ranking among the top five global cities, Shanghai's economic growth will continue to maintain a good trend in 2025, with a year-on-year increase of 5.5% in regional GDP in the first three quarters; The total output value of strategic emerging industries in industry accounts for 44.1% of the total output value of industries above designated size. A more stable foundation, burst of vitality, and a leap in energy level - from January to October this year, the transaction volume of major financial factor markets in Shanghai increased by 11.6% year-on-year; The total import and export volume of Shanghai reached 3.7 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.2%; The latest Xinhua Baltic Airlines Center Index shows that Shanghai has ranked third in the world for six consecutive years; The strategic capability of the International Science and Technology Innovation Center is outstanding, and in the ranking of "World's Best Science and Technology Clusters", the Shanghai Suzhou Innovation Cluster ranks 6th. According to Luo Dajin, Director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, there are currently 25000 high-tech enterprises of various types in Shanghai, with an average of 320 science and technology enterprises born every day this year, and the innovation ecosystem is accelerating and becoming more active. Especially, the technology finance system constructed from technology finance, technology credit, venture capital, technology insurance, and multi-level capital markets has played an important supporting role in technological innovation. From the authoritative rankings of ten global cities, Shanghai's' Five Centers' are continuously advancing, its comprehensive economic level is steadily improving, innovation related rankings have achieved a leap, financial and shipping indicators remain at the forefront, and its soft power ranking has also improved. ”Zhang Zhongwei, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Development and Reform Commission and President of the Shanghai Development and Reform Research Institute, revealed the development trajectory of Shanghai during the 14th Five Year Plan period with a set of rankings. At the same time, the "five centers" in Shanghai have also formed a good trend of coordinated development, coupling and symbiosis, and mutual empowerment. Zhang Weizhong, Chairman of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, stated that the construction of the "Five Centers" in Shanghai has formed a significant synergistic effect. In terms of linkage between financial centers, shipping centers, and trade centers, Shanghai is currently building a blockchain based industry application in the field of air trade - the air trade digital chain, exploring application scenarios such as cross-border electronic invoices, cross-border commodity traceability, and electronic bills of lading. In terms of the linkage between financial centers and science and technology innovation centers, technological innovation has become one of the important scenarios for financial services. In 2024, the loan balance of technology-based enterprises within Shanghai's jurisdiction will approach 1.3 trillion yuan; The construction of Shanghai International Science and Technology Innovation Center has also created conditions for the technological and digital transformation of financial services, and the application of financial technology is more extensive and profound. Technology driven merger and acquisition empowerment: New quality productivity activates new momentum. "Technological innovation is the foundation, international economic centers are the goal, and finance, shipping, and trade are effective supporting measures. Shanghai should fully leverage its advantages in system integration, drive the construction of a modern industrial system through technological innovation, and create a powerful driving force for high-quality economic development. ”Zheng Yongnian, Dean of the School of Public Policy at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), said. Innovation is increasingly becoming an important strategic cornerstone for the construction of Shanghai's "Five Centers". In the view of Zhang Xiaofeng, Senior Vice President of Novartis China, China has become the world's second-largest market for innovative drug research and development. In the past three years, the number of approved clinical trials for new drugs in China has increased from 1512 to 1782. The R&D expenses of A-share and Hong Kong listed biopharmaceutical companies have remained stable at 5.5% to 6.2%, indicating that China's innovation foundation is still growing. Morgan Stanley pointed out in a related report that China's biopharmaceutical research and development has demonstrated significant cost efficiency advantages, with an internal rate of return of up to 8.5%, far higher than the 3.6% in the United States. This is the result of China's innovation efficiency, industrial response, and collaborative financial services, truly empowering the construction of the 'Five Centers' with science and technology innovation, "said Zhang Xiaofeng. During the important period of industrial transformation and upgrading, mergers and acquisitions have also become an important driving force. Mergers and acquisitions are not only the core lever for optimizing resource allocation in the capital market, but also an important engine for cultivating new quality productivity to drive economic transformation and upgrading, "Gu Jun said. Since the release of the" Six Measures for Mergers and Acquisitions ", Shanghai, as an international financial center, has taken the lead in issuing the" Action Plan for Supporting Mergers and Acquisitions of Listed Companies in Shanghai (2025-2027) "(referred to as the" Twelve Measures for Mergers and Acquisitions in Shanghai ") in December last year, gradually building a good development pattern of the merger and acquisition market guided by policies, factor aggregation, urban linkage, and ecological construction. Shanghai closely adheres to the goals of strengthening, supplementing, and extending chains, focusing on key areas such as integrated circuits, biomedicine, and artificial intelligence, and promoting the successful implementation of a number of benchmark cases. As of the end of September, 25 mergers and acquisitions have been completed, including 4 major asset restructurings with a total acquisition amount of 220.4 billion yuan, effectively enhancing the core competitiveness of industrial clusters through mergers and acquisitions. On the occasion of the one-year anniversary of the release of the "Twelve Measures for Mergers and Acquisitions" in Shanghai, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Taiping Insurance Group, and Guotai Haitong Securities jointly established the "Mergers and Acquisitions Alliance" with multiple institutions. By 2025, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank's investment in M&A loans will exceed 100 billion yuan, with a balance of over 240 billion yuan, placing it in a leading position among joint-stock banks and creating a comprehensive service model of "commercial bank+investment bank+ecosystem"; Guotai Haitong Securities' acquisition projects in the advanced manufacturing field include the purchase of assets through the issuance of shares by SMIC, the purchase of assets through the issuance of shares and convertible bonds by Fuluode, and the purchase of assets through the issuance of shares by Oppenheim, among others, with a leading number in the industry. In the next three years, the "M&A Alliance" will strive to support a national M&A transaction scale of over 1.2 trillion yuan, a Shanghai regional M&A transaction scale of over 400 billion yuan, serve over 1200 M&A clients nationwide, and achieve full coverage of key M&A projects at the municipal level and core projects of the Yangtze River Delta integration. Zhou Hanmin, member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and President of the Shanghai Public Diplomacy Association, stated that the "15th Five Year Plan" period is a crucial window for China's industrial system to transition towards new quality productivity. At this time, mergers and acquisitions are no longer just a simple means of enterprise expansion, but also an important institutional arrangement to enhance national competitiveness. Benchmarking top breakthroughs: The construction of the "15th Five Year Plan" has embarked on a new journey. The "15th Five Year Plan" is a comprehensive period for Shanghai's "Five Centers" construction to seize the momentum, and it is also a decisive period for transformation and upgrading. Zhang Zhongwei stated that in response to the 15th Five Year Plan, Shanghai will accelerate the construction of the "Five Centers" and further strengthen the overall effect, platform effect, amplification effect, and radiation effect. This requires Shanghai to work hard for a long time, strengthen international benchmarking, promote the upgrading of its position as an international economic center, enhance its competitiveness and influence as an international financial center, upgrade its quality as an international trade center, maintain its global leadership as an international shipping center, and strengthen its policy source function as an international science and technology innovation center. ”Zhang Zhongwei said. With the overall eastward shift of the world shipping center and the increasing international competition, the Shanghai International Shipping Center is standing at an important node from "basically built" to "fully built". However, compared with Singapore and London, there is still a certain gap in maritime rule making, high-end legal, insurance and financial services. Han Yanbin, President of Maersk Terminal China, stated that the global shipping industry is currently undergoing three profound structural changes: the digital transformation from a "physical hub" to a "data hub", and the flourishing development of cutting-edge technologies such as smart ports, blockchain, and artificial intelligence; The transition from "scale competition" to "rule competition" in green and low-carbon transformation will be an important strategic window for the transformation and transformation of green energy; Supply chain resilience shifts from prioritizing cost efficiency to balancing safety resilience with efficiency. Han Yanbin believes that Shanghai must start with optimizing its structure and upgrading its capabilities, improving the efficiency and resilience of the international shipping route network, perfecting the international shipping service system and ecology, and building a global shipping data hub, a highland of green shipping rules, and a "Silicon Valley" of shipping technology. At the same time, we should pay attention to the functional linkage of the "five centers" and make more breakthroughs in areas such as green shipping finance, RMB settlement, digital documents, and intelligent supply chain. In terms of international financial centers, in recent years, Shanghai has planned for the integration of offshore trade and offshore finance, implemented preferential policies for stamp duty reduction and exemption on offshore trade, issued the "Shanghai International Financial Center Further Improving Cross border Financial Service Facilitation Action Plan", established a global offshore center base near the port, and made overall progress in cross-border finance and offshore business. But compared to top international cities, Shanghai still needs to make breakthroughs in cross-border, offshore, and international standard rule making. We face six major challenges in benchmarking against the world's leading international financial centers, one of which is the lack of a system for offshore finance. ”Zhang Weizhong believes that Shanghai needs to build a more comprehensive financial service system, especially an offshore financial system, clarify a unified offshore financial basic account system as soon as possible, promote the construction of offshore financial platform carriers and the opening of business restrictions, and strive for national authorization for Shanghai to formulate special regulations for the offshore financial system. Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng said that Shanghai will conscientiously implement the spirit of the Central Economic Work Conference, take the construction of the "five centers" as an important mission, strive to achieve the "five focuses", and promote the effective implementation of central decision-making and deployment: focus on promoting the effective release of domestic demand potential, promoting the improvement and expansion of consumption quality; Focus on cultivating and developing new quality productive forces, and accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system; Efforts will be made to promote high-level reform and opening up, enhance the driving force and vitality of high-quality development; We will focus on building modern people's cities and make every effort to carry out public welfare projects and practical matters related to people's livelihoods; Focus on coordinating development and security, and ensure high-quality development with high-level security. (New Society)