The 2024 China-Switzerland Economic Forum, held in Beijing on Monday, convened Chinese and Swiss government officials, Fortune 500 business leaders, and industry experts to foster innovation and collaboration across diverse sectors.
Held biennially in Beijing, this summit represents the largest economic dialogue between China and Switzerland to date, emphasizing the critical need for exchanging ideas and forming new partnerships in today's rapidly evolving global economy.
This year’s forum, themed "Empowerment, Cooperation, and Innovation", addressed pressing global issues including life sciences, sustainable development, advanced engineering, human resources, market access, and regulatory challenges.
Fabienne Rond, associate director of X-PM China, highlighted the transformative impact of executive interim management.
"In the field I'm working in, there is an increase in this business, which is executive interim. So executive interim started in around 2000, and there is a strong development. There is a growth of this activity by about 10 percent every year," Rond explained.
Sophia Slingerland, founder and chairwoman of SHINE Environmental Technology, praised China's effective water management strategies.
"As most people do not know is that, really, our precious resource, most precious resource is water. I really bow my head in front of the Chinese government [for] how they handle and organize the water, because [in] normal life in China, you don't feel that we are running out of water," said Slingerland.
The forum also featured sub-forums and panel discussions focusing on emerging economic trends, opportunities, and challenges in Sino-Swiss relations.
Rudolf Minsch, chief economist at Economiesuisse, emphasized Switzerland's commitment to global markets amidst rising protectionism concerns.
"From Switzerland, the perspective [is that] we should have open markets all around the world. And this is a very serious problem now. Like the Chinese, it's also the specifics, it's an exporting industry, [which] needs to have access to international markets. And we are looking really seriously bothered about the impact from protectionism all around the world, as this is bad for our economies," said Minsch.
Since the implementation of the China-Switzerland Free Trade Agreement in 2014, bilateral trade volume has surged by 90 percent.
Swiss participants at the forum expressed surprise at the abundance of Swiss products in Chinese supermarkets, anticipating increased business opportunities as bilateral interactions intensify.
2024 China-Switzerland economic forum highlights innovation, collaboration
