China to hold wide-ranging int'l investment fair in Xiamen

The 2024 China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT) will be held from Sept. 8 to 11 in Xiamen, east China's Fujian Province, an official said Monday.

Themed on "further expanding bilateral investment, jointly facilitating global development", the event this year will continue to focus on the Global Development Initiative, and other multilateral and bilateral cooperation frameworks. Through a series of seminars and promotion activities, the trade fair intends to build a platform to boost global industrial cooperation, said Chinese vice commerce minister Ling Ji, who is also the deputy China International Trade Representative, at a press conference held in Beijing, on Monday.

Ling went on elaborating on three highlights of the event.

"This conference will highlight the theme of 'Investing in China', follow the current global cross-border investment trend and actively explore new models of investment promotion. We have planned a series of sophisticated and specialized investment promotion activities and actively invited domestic and foreign enterprises and international financial capital to participate. During the four-day event, there will be nearly 50 matchmaking events and roadshows fully scheduled with diverse forms and rich content, sending a positive signal of win-win cooperation," Ling said.

"This conference will mobilize and give full play to the role of financial institutions. We will work with the People's Bank of China, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the Financial Regulatory Bureau and other departments, as well as financial institutions such as China Investment Corporation, to introduce more international financial capital leading enterprises and plan various forms of investment promotion activities to attract financial capital and to empower the expansion of investment cooperation. At present, nearly 400 pieces of project financing information have been collected and screened, involving such areas as information technology, artificial intelligence, new energy, life and healthcare and equipment manufacturing. And we have been promoting the matchmaking and cooperation between projects and finance through the cloud and offline channels of the CIFIT," he said.

"This year's CIFIT will actively implement the Global Development Initiative and serve the Belt and Road cooperation. The organizer has widely invited government departments, industry organizations and high-quality enterprises from various countries to participate in the conference. At present, delegations from more than 90 countries and international organizations have confirmed their participation. The trade fair will release authoritative reports on attracting investment and outward investment, and provide professional public service products for international investment cooperation," Ling said.

The CIFIT takes place every September in Xiamen and promotes two-way trade and investment between China and the world.

China to hold wide-ranging int'l investment fair in Xiamen

The 11th Beijing Xiangshan Forum opened in Beijing on Friday morning with hotspots around the world and security cooperation taking the center stage.

The opening ceremony was attended by more than 600 official representatives from over 100 countries and international organizations, including nearly 300 heads of official delegations and officials from various countries. The forum is held with the theme of "Promoting Peace for a shared future".

China's Defense Minister Dong Jun attended the opening ceremony and delivered a keynote speech. He first read out a congratulatory letter from President Xi Jinping to the forum. Then, he mentioned in his speech the current hot issues including the Ukrainian crisis and the ongoing Palestine-Israel conflict.

Dong said "there is no winner in a war and a conflict, and there is no way out if we just confront each other." He also stressed that promoting peace talks is the only way out, and the fundamental way out.

Two plenary sessions were held after the opening ceremony. At the first session, participants exchanged views on "security cooperation and prosperity and stability in the Asia-Pacific region", and official representatives from Vietnam, Singapore, Pakistan, Fiji, Russia and Malaysia spoke at the meeting.

The theme of the second plenary session was "multipolarization and the direction of international order", and defense ministers or military generals from six countries including Cambodia, Tanzania, Cameroon and Iran delivered speeches.

The topics all focus on security hotspots. Participants include not only developing and developed countries, but also representatives, experts and scholars from the closely-watched countries such as the United States, Russia, and Ukraine.

In interviews, many participants said that the Beijing Xiangshan Forum is committed to promoting dialog, exchanges and cooperation among defense agencies, militaries and international organizations of various countries, and is playing an active role in promoting regional security and stability and maintaining world peace and development.

The ongoing Beijing Xiangshan Forum, which runs until Saturday, will also hold eight parallel group sessions, focusing on themes such as the correct way for China and the United States to get along, European security trends and Middle East peace vision. This year, a new session on outer space security has been set up for participants to jointly discuss issues on outer space security governance.

Initiated in 2006, the Beijing Xiangshan Forum is a high-level security and defense forum in the Asia-Pacific with significant international influence.

11th Beijing Xiangshan Forum opens with focus on hotspots, security cooperation