Hong Kong cements role as financial gateway at global summit

The Global Financial Leaders' Investment Summit kicked off Monday in China's Hong Kong, bringing together several hundred financial leaders, including senior Chinese officials and heads of major global banks to exchange views on common challenges and opportunities.

Held by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the three-day event featured a main summit under the theme "Sailing Through Changes" on Tuesday, where Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng urged the special administrative region (SAR) to deepen financial reform and innovation in his opening keynote speech.

He, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said Hong Kong's status as an international financial center will be more prominent and solid, and the central government is stepping up work to improve policies for its development.

For example, the central government will support more quality enterprises to list and issue bonds in Hong Kong, as well as continue to expand mutual market access between the mainland and Hong Kong in areas such as stock, financial management and interest rates swaps. He mentioned that authorities will also improve the mechanism for the regular issuance of treasury bonds, steadily upscale the issuance in Hong Kong and support Hong Kong in consolidating its position as a global offshore RMB hub.

In addition, the central government will also support Chinese financial institutions in Hong Kong to expand their business and deepen financial cooperation in the Greater Bay Area and take forward the interfacing rules and mechanisms between mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area and Hong Kong and Macao so as to create more room for financial development in Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, the vice premier gave three suggestions for Hong Kong: The first is to deepen financial reform and innovation to enhance Hong Kong's financial competitiveness; the second is to further expand cooperation in opening-up so as to keep Hong Kong's financial development robust, and the third is to further dovetail with the national development strategy and strengthen the foundation of Hong Kong's financial development.

He noted that Hong Kong plays a unique role in connecting China's domestic economy with the international economy, and in the meanwhile it has the full support of the country for its financial development. As the country progresses towards high-quality development, Hong Kong's strategic position will become more prominent, he said.

The vice premier also said that the central government will do its utmost to support Hong Kong in its financial reform and development and safeguarding financial stability and security.

Li Yunze, head of the National Financial Regulatory Administration, Wu Qing, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and Zhu Hexin, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China attended and addressed a panel discussion on mainland financial developments at the summit. They all mentioned that China will continue its financial reforms and use Hong Kong as a bridge to global markets.

Hong Kong cements role as financial gateway at global summit

Industry-leading experts from multinational enterprises gathered at a summit in Beijing on Sunday to present cutting-edge ideas and insights, exchanging views on new opportunities and challenges existing in investment cooperation.

Themed "Open China and the World," the Global Multinational Corporation Summit -- the 14th International Roundtable of Multinational Corporations' Leaders was held in the Chinese capital on Sunday, attracting nearly 500 leaders from domestic and international multinational corporations.

Feng Xingliang, head of the Beijing office for NRW.Global Business China, a firm specializing in assisting foreign business ventures, highlighted renewable energy as a booming sector for Chinese investment abroad, speaking to China Global Television Network (CGTN).

"Judging from the businesses run overseas in 2023 and 2024, the most popular sectors for Chinese companies is renewable energy, including batteries and electric vehicles. This is the largest sector in which Chinese companies operate abroad. According to the final statistics, among the 54 Chinese companies that invested in North Rhine-Westphalia last year, 42 percent were in renewable energy. This was not the case before. There were more businesses in heavy industries, like the steel industry," said Feng.

"German companies have invested a lot in China, and Germany is the European country that has invested the most in China. Germany's investment in China hit a record high both in 2022 and 2023. Last year, the country's investment in China marked 11.9 billion euros. And in the first half of this year, the figure has already reached 7.6 billion euros, which is another record high. Of course, much of those investments comes from large enterprises, such as BASF's investment in Zhanjiang reaching 10 billion euros, indicating that German companies still have great confidence in the Chinese market," he said.

A growing number of Chinese companies going abroad now are making efforts to localize their business as much as possible, instead of only selling products, according to Li Dong, president of the Rockwell Automation Intelligent Manufacturing Innovation Research Institute.

"Many Chinese companies are going abroad, not only selling products overseas but also building factories abroad and integrating into local cultures including life and production. Rockwell Automation is focusing on a one-stop service, and is building its own ecosystem from consulting, construction, planning, to later services, that is, long-term services for enterprises, instead of a one-time service, so as to help enterprises go overseas better and be based locally and let China's production capacity and industrial chains better serve the world," said Li.

Ban Ki-moon, former secretary-general of the UN and chairman of the Boao Forum of Asia, sent a congratulatory letter to the meeting. Zhang Xiangchen, deputy director-general of the World Trade Organization, delivered a video speech at the event.

Multinational companies discuss opportunities for investment cooperation in Beijing