The Annual Conference of Financial Street Forum 2022 was held in Beijing on November 21, 2022, co-hosted by Beijing Municipal Government, People’s Bank of China, Xinhua News Agency, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, China Security Regulatory Commission, and State Administration of Foreign Exchange. CIC co-hosted a parallel forum during the Annual Conference on Global Market & Financial Growth themed “New Trends in Innovation and Investment Cooperation in a Changing World”.

Mr. PENG Chun, Chairman and CEO of CIC, delivered the opening speech of the parallel forum. He observed that the global economy is experiencing profound challenges faced with stronger downward pressures and a more volatile and fragile international financial market. The new development pattern that China actively practiced is underpinned by openness in both domestic and international circulations. Leveraging its vast domestic market and sound industrial supporting systems, China stands ready to promote international circulations and make global supply chains and industrial chains more resilient, creating new opportunities for the world while pursuing new development of its own. CIC is a persistent long-term investor that invests around the globe to support the long-term development of the world economy. The company actively develops new ways for outbound investment to support the integration of global supply chains and industrial chains that generate win-win outcomes, while working to build an ecosystem for cross-border investment that bridges global industrial cooperation. It also emphasizes sustainable investing and seeks to empower green development of the world. Mr. PENG Chun also called for a more open and orderly investment environment that facilitates the free flow of capital and resources around the world and promotes the steady functioning and sustainable growth of the world economy.

Mr. JIANG Guangzhi, Deputy Secretary General of the People’s government of Beijing Municipality, said in his speech that in recent years Beijing has been quite successful in fostering new dynamics for high-level opening-up. Going forward, Beijing will step up opening-up in terms of rules, regulations, management, and standards, in a bid to foster a market-oriented and international business environment underpinned by the rule of law. New policies will be piloted on a priority basis in two-way opening-up of the financial sector, cross-border capital flow, and investment and financing facilitation. CIC actively develops new ways for outbound investment and helps connect investee companies with China’s market and industrial systems, providing support for valuable international companies to expand in China and fit into China’s economy. This has effectively boosted local economic development and generated win-win outcomes.

During the keynote address section, Mr. LU Lei, Deputy Administrator of State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said that global cross-border direct investment is showing new features and new trends are taking shape. Emerging market economies are gaining traction as destinations for cross-border direct investment, and cross-border direct investment in high technology and green development has spiked. Since the 18^th CPC National Congress, China has achieved high-quality development in its international industrial capacity cooperation, with progress made on both the quality and scale of the utilization of foreign capital in the high-tech service sector. China’s outbound investment has doubled since 2012, while playing a key role in advancing investment interconnectedness and the development of infrastructure and industrialization in recipient countries and regions. The bilateral cooperation funds CIC launched have served as reliable platforms for ongoing industrial cooperation, bridging cooperation between countries, institutions, and sectors.

In addition, a range of topics, spanning “New Trends of Investment Cooperation amid Changes”, “Advancing International Industrial Cooperation through Finance”, and “Integration of Industry and Finance to Propel Global Economic Recovery”, were touch upon by senior executives of financial institutions including Mr. LIU Jin, President of Bank of China; Mr. Andrea C. Bonomi, Founder and Chairman of Investindustrial; Mr. Mark Tucker, Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings Plc; Ms. Virginie Morgon, Chief Executive Officer of Eurazeo; Mr. Kevin Sneader, President of Asia Pacific Ex-Japan (APEJ) of Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.; Mr. Liyama Toshiyasu, Executive Vice President of Nomura Securities.

Per their remarks, openness and cooperation are key to steady recovery of the world economy, and financial capital and cross-border investment play a meaningful role in deepening international industrial cooperation. China is persistently advancing opening up to foster a world class business environment that better enables international investment institutions and foreign companies to thrive in China.

During the roundtable discussions, views were shared on topics including “How to Enhance International Industrial Cooperation through Cross-border Investment”, “Developing New Ways for Outbound Investment in the Post-COVID Era”, and “How to Advance Industrial Cooperation and Local Economic Development via Bilateral Cooperation Funds” by senior executives from Goldman Sachs, Charterhouse, Triton, Ermenegildo Zegna, and UTAC, as well as Mr. ZHANG Jinsong, Director-General of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology; Mr. ZHAO Jifeng, Chairman of Beijing State-owned Capital Operation and Management Co., Ltd.; and Mr. LI Quan, Acting Chairman of New China Life Insurance Company Ltd.

In recent years, CIC has worked with leading financial institutions in certain countries and established the China-US Industrial Cooperation Fund, the China-France Cooperation Fund, the China-Japan Industrial Cooperation Fund, the China-UK Cooperation Fund, the China-Italy Industrial Cooperation Fund, and the Triton China Expansion Fund, playing a meaningful role in deepening economic and trade ties and enhancing industrial cooperation.

The speakers in this section also observed that in the context of a complex environment for cross border investment with great uncertainties for international industrial cooperation, the bilateral cooperation funds that CIC launched tap into the advantages of all stakeholders to create value for portfolio companies. This win-win mechanism has been an effective way to deepen bilateral industrial cooperation and invigorate local economies.

The parallel forum, coordinated by Dr. Qi Bin, Executive Vice President and Deputy Chief Investment Officer of CIC, was attended by senior executives of CIC Group companies, including China Jianyin Investment Limited, China Galaxy Financial Holding Company Limited, China Galaxy Securities Ltd., and New China Life Insurance Company Ltd., as well as representatives from government agencies and leading global investors.