The Pudong Area has found a way out of the COVID-19 crisis and witnessed increased investment amid the pandemic, a city conference heard on Thursday. In the first three months, US$2.16 billion of foreign capital had flowed into Pudong, a year-on-year increase of 36.6 percent, Dong Yiwen, Pudong’s deputy director, said. In the same period, Pudong added 3,948 new domestically invested projects, up 6.1 percent year on year, and received 117.6 billion yuan in registered capital from domestic companies, a 1.8 times increase year on year, she added. The pandemic has brought opportunities for the development of the online economy, Dong said. Pudong is now focusing on the development of autonomous factories, remote offices, online entertainment, exhibitions, education and R&D, Dong said. Pudong had offered great support to help businesses recover from the pandemic, Dong said. It released a set of policies such as rent reductions and subsidies, and granted financial support to nearly 10,000 companies. It had also worked with authorities in the Yangtze River Delta region to ensure smooth cross-city transport and the normal operation of upstream players in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. Amid the pandemic, nearly 4,000 projects, with investment of over 310 billion yuan (US$43.66 billion), had landed in Pudong, covering cars, medical equipment, smart manufacturing and capital management, Dong said. So far this year, Pudong has invested over 230 billion yuan in infrastructure, transport facilities, industrial development and culture and sports projects. Its yearly investment on fixed assets will increase by over 10 percent, she said. Pudong is also well on its way to developing its six core industries, including biomedicine, integrated circuits and artificial intelligence, by promoting the layout of industrial parks, Dong said. It is accelerating the establishment and development of an artificial intelligence island, a robot valley, a financial data port and a smart manufacturing service park. In the ongoing Double Five Shopping Festival, Pudong has planned more than 160 promotional activities to spur consumption. In addition, 20 A-class tourist sites in Pudong, including Shanghai Tower and Shanghai Disneyland, have reopened since May 8. During the Labor Day holiday, 19 tourist sites in Pudong reopened, welcoming 742,000 visitors, she said, around a quarter of the city’s total.