Drawing from the same waters of the Yangtze River and sharing a deep bond, Shanghai and Yunnan came together to discuss development. On March 9, the 2026 Shanghai-Yunnan Industrial Collaboration Matchmaking Conference was held at the Shanghai-Yunnan Lingang Kunming Science and Technology City, serving as the concluding and summary event for the Yunnan tour focused on industrial cooperation between the two regions. Following in-depth inspections of areas including Kunming, Chuxiong, Pu'er, and Xishuangbanna, relevant leaders from both regions, along with over 100 entrepreneurs and chamber of commerce representatives, gathered to discuss collaborative development. Participants in the Yunnan tour included leading private enterprises, foreign-invested companies, and municipal state-owned enterprises. The advantages, opportunities, and unique resource endowments of Yunnan left a profound impression on attendees. Entrepreneurs shared their insights on how to better seize opportunities and play a greater role in the Shanghai-Yunnan collaboration.

Since the formal establishment of the paired assistance relationship between Shanghai and Yunnan in 1996, Shanghai has cumulatively invested 21.8 billion yuan in fiscal aid funds into Yunnan, implemented 8,114 assistance projects, co-built 91 industrial parks with Yunnan, attracted 1,672 enterprises to establish operations with actual invested capital of 73.6 billion yuan, and nurtured the formation of 16 characteristic industrial clusters. This has achieved deep integration models such as "Shanghai enterprises + Yunnan resources," "Shanghai R&D + Yunnan manufacturing," "Shanghai market + Yunnan products," and "Shanghai headquarters + Yunnan bases."

The Shanghai-Yunnan Lingang Kunming Science and Technology City stands as a model of industrial transformation and upgrading driven by Shanghai-Yunnan cooperation. The park was jointly developed by Shanghai Lingang Group and the Kunming Economic and Technological Development Zone with high-standard planning, high-quality investment attraction, and high-level services, aiming to create a core hub and new demonstration area for industrial coordination between eastern and western China. Last year, the park was successfully selected as a "Best Practice Case" by the Ministry of Commerce among national pilot free trade zones. Gong Wei, Vice President of Shanghai Lingang Group, stated that the Mohan-Moding Cross-Border Service Center, co-built by the group, has engaged with over 300 enterprises, organized multiple major investment promotion events, and seen more than 10 companies register and establish a presence.

The matchmaking conference highlighted Yunnan's significant cost advantages, positioning it as a preferred location for reducing costs and improving efficiency. Regarding power costs, Yunnan's total installed power capacity is 170 million kilowatts, with green power capacity exceeding 150 million kilowatts, ranking among the top in the country both in scale and proportion. Xiao Weihua, Member of the Party Committee and Vice President of Shanghai Electric Group, expressed that Shanghai Electric will continue the mountain-and-sea friendship, leverage its strengths in innovation, technology, and talent, actively align with national strategies and Yunnan's development needs, expand the cooperation landscape in areas like green power, gas turbines, and energy storage, and deepen cooperation with Yunnan and Kunming in urban infrastructure construction and urban renewal for mutual benefit and win-win outcomes.

In recent years, Shanghai-Yunnan collaboration has evolved beyond the traditional one-way support model to a two-way engagement across various fields. "The efficient coordination and attentive service from governments at all levels in Yunnan have allowed us to deeply appreciate the high-quality business environment and strengthened our determination to establish roots in Yunnan," said Du Ruobing, CEO of Shanghai Xigu Technology Co., Ltd. "We will take this signing as a starting point, go all out to accelerate project construction, and ensure early commencement and results."

In the cultural sphere, a variety of vibrant activities, such as the successive establishment of multiple "Cloud Academies" and a special performance of the Yunnan Funing Poya Love Songs in Shanghai, bear witness to the solid footsteps of Shanghai-Yunnan partnership. Yang Chunhua, Party Secretary of the Shanghai Library, noted that since signing a strategic cooperation agreement with the Yunnan Provincial Library, the two institutions have carried out a series of solid and effective tasks in resource sharing, talent development, and facility co-building. They are also actively exploring the exchange of digital resources and jointly developing digital thematic scenarios like the "Traveling Library," enabling high-quality cultural resources to transcend mountains and seas for the benefit of both regions.

Focusing on developing the "local specialties" sector, Shanghai and Yunnan are working in tandem, with Shanghai's market advantages, platform strengths, and technological expertise increasingly integrated with Yunnan's unique ecological resources. "Yuxi's blueberries, Dali's grapes, Kunming's roses... last year, Meituan's procurement volume from Yunnan exceeded 1 billion yuan. We are building a nationwide production and sales network for Yunnan's special agricultural products to help 'Yunnan products go out'," said Zhu Zheng, Deputy Party Secretary and General Manager of Public Affairs at Meituan's Shanghai company.

Liu Jingpei, a relevant responsible person from Amcor Packaging (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., remarked, "This was a highly efficient and pragmatic matchmaking event. We also noted new opportunities in Yunnan's development of characteristic agriculture and plan to create suitable packaging and solutions for fresh-cut flowers, coffee, tea, and medicinal herbs. By utilizing automated packaging equipment, we aim to enhance production efficiency, extend the shelf life of specialty agricultural products, and make Yunnan's characteristic brands more competitive in the market."

Since establishing its first coffee farmer support center in Pu'er in 2012, Starbucks has sourced over 65,000 tons of high-quality coffee from Yunnan. Xu Li, Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs at Starbucks Enterprise Management (China) Co., Ltd., explained that the success rate of quality inspections for Yunnan coffee beans has risen from an initial 20% to over 80%. Through the Starbucks "Creating Shared Value, Beautiful Star Village" rural revitalization demonstration project under the Shanghai-Yunnan cooperation framework, Starbucks has partnered with coffee-producing areas to create an innovative "coffee + public welfare" model for rural revitalization, helping to increase agricultural efficiency, boost farmers' incomes, and inject vitality into rural areas.

"As an enterprise headquartered in Shanghai but deeply rooted in Yunnan, we will continue to increase our investment in Yunnan, leveraging the advantages of our Shanghai headquarters to promote the intelligent and green development of the grain and oil industry. Simultaneously, we will fully play our role as a bridge to deepen the entry of 'Yunnan products into Shanghai,' attract more Shanghai enterprises to invest in Yunnan, and contribute to the Shanghai-Yunnan collaboration," said Yang Bin, General Manager of Yihai Kerry (Kunming) Food Industry Co., Ltd.

Currently, Kunming is focusing on its "tourism revitalizes the city" goal, vigorously introducing and cultivating high-quality hotels and boutique homestays, and continuously improving the supply and service level of tourism accommodation products. Gong Yingxue, Head of Corporate Affairs for the Western Region, Greater China, at Six Continents Hotel Management (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., believes this aligns highly with the company's development strategy. "We will focus on empowering sojourns with culture, effectively showcasing the charm of Yunnan's culture, acting as a storyteller for 'the lifestyle called Yunnan,' and promoting the shift from traditional tourism to high-end resort stays. We will also continue to deepen cooperation with the government in talent cultivation, combining international hotel management experience to train more talents with global perspectives for the high-quality development of Yunnan's and Kunming's cultural tourism sectors," she said.

"This Yunnan tour left a very deep impression on us regarding the Mohan-Moding cooperation zone. Its locational advantages are very significant, being a key node on the China-Laos Railway. Port clearance efficiency is improving, and cross-border logistics costs are decreasing," said Zheng Hong, a relevant responsible person from HP Trade (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. She indicated that HP has a strong willingness to further study deeper collaboration with the Mohan-Moding cooperation zone, focusing on upstream and downstream enterprises in the electronic information industry to promote project implementation and facilitate more high-quality cooperation.