The China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) has launched its external affairs office on July 2, announcing it will open six branches in five countries.

The six foreign branches will settle in Shanghai Foreign Investment Development Board's overseas offices in Los Angeles, London, Frankfurt, Goteborg and Osaka, as well as the Pudong commerce commission's overseas office in Tokyo, according to the Pudong Times.

As a move to promote the Shanghai FTZ, the foreign affairs office is established to increase the FTZ's overseas influence, to seek business opportunities and to enhance cooperation with foreign countries.

An inauguration ceremony was held in Shanghai to launch the new office. The officers at foreign consulates based in Shanghai and representatives of some chambers of commerce, who attended the ceremony, said that they believed the office would meet foreign investors' need to obtain more information about the Shanghai FTZ and improve the FTZ's service in third countries.