(Yicai Global) Nov. 25 – Hidefumi Mizutani, managing director of Itochu Corporation, has been managing multinational companies in Shanghai since 1993. He has witnessed the icebreaking of foreign capital in China and the development and opening up of Pudong.

Itochu is a Fortune 500 company with a history of 162 years. It was recognized as a China-Japan Friendship Trading Company by the State Council, China’s cabinet, as early as 1972. Itochu obtained the first foreign-funded company business license in the Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone in Pudong New Area in 1992. It has since taken root in Pudong. The company started from a single-function trade business and gradually expanded its business to include fiber, machinery, energy and chemicals, food, metal, construction, and financial investment in China. The firm moved all its management functions, including funds, accounting, and review that were originally dispersed in 16 companies, to Shanghai last year, upgrading its Shanghai subsidiary to be the regional headquarters.