The 22nd Conference on International Exchange of Professionals (CIEP), one of China's biggest annual gatherings for talent exchanges, opened in Shanghai on Saturday.
The two-day event is set with 32 conference venues and scheduled with 48 talent exchange events. More than 1,300 international experts from more than 120 countries and regions attended the opening ceremony.
Chinese State Councilor Shen Yiqin attended the opening ceremony, and inspected the work on introducing talents and employment services in Shanghai.
She stressed that it is necessary to further support and guarantee overseas talent introduction, strengthen international talent exchanges, in a bid to establish win-win cooperation, and provide talent and intellectual support for promoting Chinese-style modernization.
Shen also stated precise skill trainings which are necessary to better serve people in employment seeking and bring them additional income.
Founded in 2001, the Conference on International Exchange of Professionals (the CIEP) has been successfully held for 22 sessions so far.
According to initial statistics, each session of the CIEP has attracted professional organizations to participate in the exhibition from more than 40 countries and regions such as the UK, Germany, France, Italy, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Ukraine, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Israel, Brazil, Argentina, and South Africa.
In its history, more than 35,000 foreign experts, overseas students and professionals have attended the conference, and a total of over 10,000 projects have been launched under the event.
Themed "Pursuing Common Development and Benefiting Worldwide Professionals in the Drive to Scientific and Technological Innovation", the CIEP has become a national, international and comprehensive exhibition and negotiation occasion for the exchange of international technological innovation talents.
22nd Conference on Int'l Exchange of Professionals opens in Shanghai
The national policies aimed at bolstering the private sector must be tangible and accessible to businesses and require inter-departmental coordination to ensure they achieve the intended outcomes, experts said on Tuesday.
China on Monday held a key symposium on the private economy, which was attended by President Xi Jinping and brought together representatives from some of the country's most eminent private companies. In a speech delivered at the symposium, Xi stressed the importance of strictly implementing supportive policies and measures to advance the growth of the private sector.
Echoing Xi's speech, Huang Hanquan, director of the Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said he believed the current priority was ensuring the full and uncompromised implementation of government policies targeting the private economy.
"A raft of policies have already been introduced [to support] the private economy. However, the key is to ensure that these policies are effectively implemented and truly accessible to the private businesses to allow them to feel the tangible benefits," Huang told CCTV.
Bai Chong'en, dean of the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University, noted that during the implementation process, it is essential to ensure coordination and consistency across different policies to maximize their collective impact.
"It's about coordination between government departments to avoid contradictions between detailed policy provisions during the implementation. As we've repeatedly emphasized, policy consistency is key. It is only when there is consensus on certain issues that we can pull together towards the same goal with one mind," said Bai.
Monday's symposium also highlighted the government's commitment to removing obstacles that prevent private enterprises from equally accessing production factors and participating in market competition. Experts believe that several key sectors will open their door wider to private businesses.
Official data showed that private investment in infrastructure grew by 5.8 percent in 2024, 1.4 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate for infrastructure investments. The symposium proposed continuing to promote fair access to competitive sectors of infrastructure for all kinds of market entities.
"This means creating more space for private enterprises' development, or in other words offering wider access for them. This will allow private enterprises to have more opportunities to participate in infrastructure investments, as these investments feature relatively stable operations and returns. This is also a field that private enterprises have long been eager to enter," Huang said.
In October 2024, China released a draft of its first basic law focused on the development of the private sector for public input. The draft, with 77 articles in nine chapters, features equal treatment and protection of private sector businesses.
"For example, one important part of the draft of the private sector promotion law is meant to create an equal environment for competition, allowing private enterprises to equally access resources, participate in government projects, and enter the market. I believe that private enterprises are eager to make contributions, and if they are given the opportunity to do so, they will be able to achieve greater development," said Bai.
Experts stress effective policy implementation to boost private sector growth