British multinational pharmaceutical company GSK announced on July 5 that it will set up a new business operation center in Zhangjiang, Shanghai's Pudong New Area.

The operation center will consolidate the company's various businesses in China, such as the import, procurement, and distribution of drugs. It also plans to upgrade and streamline GSK's import and distribution businesses in order to improve efficiency, as well as to reduce management costs.

The opening of the operation center is seen as another effort by the company to transform and expand its presence in China. In March 2020, GSK registered an enterprise management company in Shanghai, which was granted a license to sell drugs in May.

GSK was among the first group of foreign pharmaceutical companies in China. It has witnessed the country's continuous efforts to promote opening up and innovation, said Qi Xin, president and general manager of pharmaceuticals and vaccines at GSK China, at the inauguration ceremony of the operation center. She added that China is a market with strategic significance to the company.

Tang Shiqing, vice-chairman of the Pudong New Area Committee of the CPPCC, said that Pudong will further open up and improve its business environment to empower local companies' rapid development.