30 countries, regions join trade summit

CHINA on Monday convened a global trade and investment promotion summit in Beijing with participation by hundreds of representatives from over 30 countries and regions, and 170 foreign entities, in another major push by the world’s second-largest economy to boost cooperation amid growing geopolitical and trade tensions.

At the summit, hosted by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), representatives of international organizations, multinational executives and foreign business groups commended China’s critical role in promoting global cooperation and major contribution to global economic development, especially as a rising tide of protectionism in some advanced economies seriously hinders global trade and investment.

While some Western officials and media outlets have stepped up smearing China’s economy and even sought to crack down on emerging Chinese industries, foreign businesses remain confident in the prospect of the Chinese economy and are committed to further expanding in the Chinese market, many business leaders from Asia, Europe and North America told the Global Times on Monday.

Promoting cooperation

In this third edition, the Global Trade and Investment Promotion Summit of 2024 is another major platform to bring together Chinese and foreign business leaders to boost trade and investment cooperation. This year’s event was attended by more than 700 representatives, including over 300 representatives from 39 countries and regions, and 170 foreign organizations, according to the CCPIT.

All 18 foreign business groups in China were also represented at the summit, and more than 20 senior executives from multinational corporations, including Dell, Tesla, IBM and Boeing attended the summit, the organizer said.

Addressing the opening ceremony on Monday, Chinese Vice President Han Zheng said that China will continuously expand high-level opening up and share the development dividends with the world. A steadily growing, increasingly open Chinese economy will definitely add strong impetus to the world economy, Han said.

Among the major outcomes of the summit is the launch of the Beijing Initiative of the Global Trade and Investment Promotion Summit of 2024. The initiative called for global cooperation in five aspects, including accelerating the world economic recovery, maintaining the stability and smooth flow of industrial and supply chains, embracing the transformative force of artificial intelligence and fostering momentum for green and lowcarbon development.

“We welcome business communities from more countries to join the initiative, enrich its content, explore new forms and areas of cooperation, and work together for a stronger, greener and healthier global development,” read the initiative shared with the Global Times on Monday.

Siddharth Chatterjee, UN Resident Coordinator in China, commended China’s major role in helping stabilize global supply chains amid increasing levels of conflicts and major disruptions to supply chains.

“We need China’s leadership in the global landscape to promote more integration, more movement of good supplies and people so that we actually see a very integrated global business community,” Chatterjee said on the sidelines of the summit on Monday.

China has remained steadfast in advancing high-level opening up. This year’s Government Work Report included a slew of opening up measures, including lifting all market access restrictions on foreign investment in manufacturing and reducing market access restrictions in services sectors such as telecommunications and health care.