Shanghai further shined up its business opportunity image yesterday, offering 1,000 jobs and encouraging Hong Kong firms to invest in its Pudong New Area.

Upon conclusion of the three-day visit to Hong Kong of the delegation he headed, Mayor Han Zheng of Shanghai pledged to make it a priority to implement the agreement with Hong Kong to strengthen economic co-operation in eight sectors.

About 800 companies and institutions from Shanghai staged a job fair offering 1,000 positions in sectors such as tourism, investment and trade, financial services, education and professional services.

Annual salaries offered ranged from 50,000 yuan (US$6,020) to 5 million yuan (US$602,400), with an average of about 150,000 yuan (US$18,000).

Although the pay level is lower than in Hong Kong, some applicants, some of them jobless, said they were looking at the larger growth potential in Shanghai.

Pointing to lower living costs and growth opportunities in Shanghai, Sun Lu, director of the municipal personnel bureau said he believed the fair would see some successful hiring.

Shanghai's Pudong New Area will enhance co-operation with Hong Kong in financial services, logistics, exhibition and tourism, and investment and trade, said Jiang Sixian, vice-mayor and director of the area.

"In development of modern services, Hong Kong enjoys certain advantages, Shanghai has its demand and Pudong offers the potential,'' Jiang said.

He said, under the framework of the mainland-Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) signed last June, Pudong is encouraging Hong Kong banks, securities firms, brokerages and insurers to set up office in its Lujiazui Financial District.

The area encourages joint development of new financial products with the presence of the Shanghai Futures Exchange and Hong Kong Futures Exchange, as well as the Shanghai Diamond Exchange and Hong Kong's associations of diamond and jewellery.

Hong Kong investors are welcome to participate in the planning, construction and management of a 2.56-square-kilometre logistics park in the Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone, Jiang said.

Anna Lai, deputy executive director of Hong Kong's Trade Development Council, said substantial room exists for co-operation between Hong Kong and Pudong, which is the economic locomotive of Shanghai.

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