THE Longhua International Cooperation Center (LICC), the city’s first district-level service center of its kind, officially went into service at the Shenzhen North Railway Station International Business District in Minzhi Subdistrict, Longhua District on Friday.

(Guests unveil the plate of Longhua International Cooperation Center (LICC), the first district-level service center of its kind in Shenzhen, on Friday. Courtesy of LICC)

LICC has been conceived as an all-in-one international service hub, a platform for fostering international trade and scientific and technological collaboration, a gateway for information exchange and a center for international cultural exchange.

(Eduardo Alonso (R), Consul General of Spain in Guangzhou, checks out art works displayed at The Great Realm Shenzhen Sister City Artist Exhibition, a sideline event of the launching ceremony of Longhua International Cooperation Center on Friday. Wang Haolan)

At LICC, visitors can benefit from reception services and informative brochures in multiple languages. The center boasts an information exchange screen, which showcases job vacancies, ongoing projects and business matchmaking requirements from both local and foreign-funded enterprises and consultation service presented by Long Zi Hua, the country’s first AI (artificial intelligence)-powered foreign affairs consultant.

(A staffer introduces the facilities at the Longhua International Cooperation Center (LICC) on Friday. Wang Haolan)

LICC also features shared office areas, meeting rooms, event spaces and a reading room with a collection of over 4,000 books in 42 languages.

The center is capable of managing over 335 government service items concerning expatriate residents, overseas talents, international organizations, foreign-related enterprises, and international chambers of commerce. Moreover, it will host over 200 events focusing on business promotion, cultural exchange, youth development, volunteer service, and language studies.

(Expats take interests in the English version of "Journey to the West" at a sideline cultural exchange event of the launching ceremony of Longhua International Cooperation Center (LICC) on Friday. Wang Haolan)

Helena Nazaré Valente, a lawyer based in Macao, was invited to attend LICC’s launching ceremony Friday and told Shenzhen Daily that she looked forward to participating in any kind of event held at the center in the future.

“The center is located in an area full of opportunities, both for international partners to go to China and for Chinese companies to go overseas,” she said. “I think we can find many good opportunities here.”

(Scenes at Longhua International Cooperation Center.)

Pakistani Qaisar Hayat is now in his third year as a Ph.D. student at Shenzhen University. He visited the center at the invitation of his teacher.

“As students, sometimes we get worried about our future after graduation,” he said. “So it is a good thing for us to know there is an international service center for us to express our ideas.”

(A scene at Longhua International Cooperation Center.)

“Just now I was asking the staffers what type of functions does the center have and what kind of service and support will they provide. I think it will be helpful for those foreigners who want to establish a company in Shenzhen,” said Assyl Nurbayev from Kazakhstan, who is also a Ph.D. student at Shenzhen University.

Hayat found Shenzhen becoming increasingly livable for foreigners with more international service centers opening in the city. “It’s great that now almost in every district and even every subdistrict, we can find such kind of centers which provide consultation service to foreign people,” he said.

The most recent official statistics show that Longhua District is home to more than 2,300 expatriate residents and over 8,000 foreign-funded enterprises.