A sustainably developing China is good for the world – Observations from the 2024 Annual Meeting of the China Development Forum
The 2024 Annual Meeting of the China Development Forum was held in Beijing from March 24 to 25. This annual meeting with the theme of “Sustainable Development of China” attracted the attention of people from all walks of life.
What is the potential for sustained economic development in China? How will China’s new development opportunities benefit the world? From heads of international institutions to people from the business community, from government officials to well-known scholars including Nobel Prize and Turing Award winners, the conference discussed opportunities and challenges, built consensus on development, and gathered strength to work together.
China’s continued development injects more certainty into the global economy
On the morning of March 24, the first seminar of the annual meeting focusing on “The Momentum and Prospects of China’s Sustainable Development” was held in the Youth Hall on the first floor of Building 14 of the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. The venue was packed with seats, and many people even crowded into the back rows of the venue to stand and listen.
“This place is very popular and full of vitality. I am very happy to see so many multinational entrepreneurs here. Everyone is discussing ‘innovation’ and ‘opening up’.” Synopsys President and CEO Gai Gai, who participated in the China Development Forum for the first time. Synopsys told reporters that next year will mark the 30th anniversary of the company’s entry into the Chinese market. China has been one of the fastest-growing markets in the world for Synopsys over the past 10 years. The purpose of participating in the annual meeting is to understand the latest developments in China’s economy, find out about artificial intelligence, etc. New opportunities for cooperation in future industrial technology innovation and talent cultivation.
The enthusiasm of the participants is the enthusiasm to pay attention to China’s development and participate in China’s development. It is also the enthusiasm to respond to major global challenges and promote common development.
Against the background of the overall weakness of the world economy, how to view China’s expected economic growth target of around 5% in 2024 has become one of the hot topics of concern to the guests attending the meeting.
“China’s economy will rebound strongly after the epidemic in 2023, with a growth rate of more than 5%. China will continue to be an important contributor to global economic growth in the future.” Kristalina Georgieva, President of the International Monetary Fund, said in a speech Zhong said that although China’s economy is currently facing some challenges such as slowing growth and an aging population, it should be noted that the Chinese market is huge and there is still huge development potential.
Masatsugu Asakawa, President of the Asian Development Bank, said that he was very pleased to see the continued recovery of China’s economy. Last year, China’s economic growth of 5.2% was in line with expectations, making it a major contributor to economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region. “Looking forward, we feel that China will have a very stable growth trajectory in 2024 and will be within the growth range announced by the government.” He said.
When asked whether he was confident that China would achieve its growth target this year, Jeffrey Sachs, a well-known American economist, gave an affirmative answer.
Sachs told reporters that just like any complex economy, China also faces internal challenges, such as real estate risks, local debt risks, etc., but these are not fundamental problems. “I have carefully read China’s government work report this year. It is a very solid work plan and the development goals set are very realistic.”
“Judging from the latest Standard Chartered China Small and Medium Enterprises Confidence Index, small and medium-sized enterprises are in the expansion zone in almost all categories, and the recovery trend is obvious in the micro sector of China’s economy.” Wen Tuosi, CEO of Standard Chartered Group, noted that China’s real estate industry has stabilized. There are signs that consumer confidence and exports are recovering. “Overall, we are very optimistic about the medium- to long-term prospects for the Chinese economy.”
China’s active cultivation and development of new productive forces will not only develop itself but also bring more business opportunities to multinational companies.
“China plays an extremely important role in our global investment strategy.” Amin Nasser, President and CEO of Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco), said that China is focusing on developing strategic emerging industries and future industries, which will Petrochemicals, advanced composite materials and non-metallic materials, carbon emission reduction technology, low-carbon energy, digital technology, and other fields have brought new opportunities for cooperation between the two parties.
Foreign business people attending the meeting have a deep understanding of China’s openness and mutually beneficial strategies. “In the past five years, the number of innovative drugs we have launched in China has exceeded the sum of all new drugs launched in the previous 25 years.” Takeda Pharmaceutical Global President and CEO Wei Boko said that this rapid development fully reflects the development of China’s pharmaceutical industry. Market opportunities and the continuous improvement of the business environment.
Openness promotes reform, openness promotes development, and openness promotes innovation.
At this annual meeting, China’s National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce, and other authoritative departments actively spoke out on further expanding high-level opening up to the outside world.
Guests attending the meeting generally believed that China’s sustained development injects more vitality and certainty into global economic growth, and also contains more opportunities for win-win cooperation between China and foreign countries. As Evan Greenberg, the foreign chairman of this year’s annual meeting and chairman and CEO of Chubb Group in the United States, said: “I believe that a strong, prosperous China that supports and invests in the international system is a positive energy for the world.”
To develop new kinetic energy towards new productive forces
What is the new driving force for China’s sustainable development? In the past two days, guests at home and abroad frequently mentioned the term “new productive forces” during exchanges and discussions, and said they saw broad prospects for the future development of China’s economy.
Scientific and technological innovation is the core element of developing new productive forces. Bill Andersen, CEO of Germany’s Bayer Group, said that China has an excellent education system, abundant talent resources, and rapid development of scientific and technological enterprises, which are important driving forces for China’s high-quality development.
“Innovation is very important to Bayer. Last year, we established the Yizhuang Open Innovation Center in Beijing and the Co.Lab co-creation platform in Shanghai. This year we will also establish a new health consumer goods innovation center in Shanghai.” He told reporters, Bayer will continue to deeply explore the Chinese market in the future, develop together with the Chinese economy, promote innovation, and help Chinese consumers enjoy more innovation results.
Promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries and promoting high-end, intelligent, and green industries are essential aspects of developing new productive forces.
According to Boleren, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Siemens AG, new productivity involves high technology, high quality, and high efficiency, which is completely consistent with Siemens’ strategy. “We believe that digital technology and artificial intelligence technology are the correct technology deployment for Siemens and can truly Support China in cultivating new productive forces.”
At this year’s annual meeting, Apple CEO Tim Cook held a dialogue with Chinese scholars on “carbon neutrality.” Cook said that Apple has set a goal of achieving carbon neutrality for all products by 2030, and this goal requires partners in the supply chain to work together, which includes new opportunities for industrial transformation and upgrading.
China’s active cultivation and development of new productive forces will not only develop itself but also bring more business opportunities to multinational companies.
“China plays an extremely important role in our global investment strategy.” Amin Nasser, President and CEO of Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco), said that China is focusing on developing strategic emerging industries and future industries, which will Petrochemicals, advanced composite materials and non-metallic materials, carbon emission reduction technology, low-carbon energy, digital technology, and other fields have brought new opportunities for cooperation between the two parties.
Continuously link the world with a higher level of openness
Relaxing foreign investment access, simplifying the approval process, and increasing intellectual property protection… China firmly pursues a mutually beneficial and win-win opening strategy. In recent years, it has introduced a series of policies to provide more market opportunities for foreign-funded enterprises to develop in China.
Foreign business people attending the meeting have a deep understanding of this.
“In the past five years, the number of innovative drugs we have launched in China has exceeded the sum of all new drugs launched in the previous 25 years.” Takeda Pharmaceutical Global President and CEO Wei Boko said that this rapid development fully reflects the development of China’s pharmaceutical industry. Market opportunities and the continuous improvement of the business environment.
Openness promotes reform, openness promotes development, and openness promotes innovation.
At this annual meeting, China’s National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce, and other authoritative departments actively spoke out on further expanding high-level opening up to the outside world.
“Judging from the latest Standard Chartered China Small and Medium Enterprises Confidence Index, small and medium-sized enterprises are in the expansion zone in almost all categories, and the recovery trend is obvious in the micro sector of China’s economy.” Wen Tuosi, CEO of Standard Chartered Group, noted that China’s real estate industry has stabilized. There are signs that consumer confidence and exports are recovering. “Overall, we are very optimistic about the medium- to long-term prospects for the Chinese economy.”
China’s active cultivation and development of new productive forces will not only develop itself but also bring more business opportunities to multinational companies.
“China plays an extremely important role in our global investment strategy.” Amin Nasser, President and CEO of Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco), said that China is focusing on developing strategic emerging industries and future industries, which will Petrochemicals, advanced composite materials and non-metallic materials, carbon emission reduction technology, low-carbon energy, digital technology, and other fields have brought new opportunities for cooperation between the two parties.
Counting this participation in the China Development Forum, Danfoss Group President and CEO Fang Xingjian has visited China three times in the past 10 months.
Embracing the business opportunities brought by China’s green transformation, this multinational giant from Denmark continues to increase investment in areas such as innovation and smart manufacturing. “China is promoting a high level of opening up to the outside world and has reiterated its commitment to improving the business environment, especially the Chinese government’s emphasis on intellectual property protection. This gives us confidence to continue investing in China,” said Fang Xingjian.