The Information Office of the People's Government of Shandong Province recently announced that the Qingdao Multinationals Summit will be held in conjunction with 2019 New Growth Drivers Qingdao Fair in Qingdao between October 19 and 20. On the morning of August 21, representatives from the Ministry of Commerce and the Shandong Provincial Government jointly held a press conference in Beijing, publicizing the summit to the world. The summit's organizers plan to invite executives from the world's top 500 companies and other industry leaders to Qingdao to discuss ways of enhancing cooperation.

On the morning of August 21, the Ministry of Commerce and Shandong Provincial Government jointly held a press conference in Beijing announcing the Qingdao Multinationals Summit.

Qian Keming, Vice Minister of Commerce of China, said at the press conference that the summit has been specially tailored for leaders from multinational corporations with the goal of identifying better methodologies to promote the formation of new models to further open up to the world. Building a high-level platform for dialogue between multinational corporations and political and academic communities can narrow the distance that exists with leaders from multinational corporations, enhancing mutual trust and expanding cooperation.

The main content of the summit will include closed-door conferences, concurrent forums, road show presentations by multinational corporations, seminars and exhibitions hosted by delegations from provincial and municipal governments and other supporting exhibitions. During the summit, representatives from various Chinese government organizations will hold closed-door conferences on the implementation of the Foreign Investment Law, customs clearance facilitation measures and intellectual property protection, announce the issuance of important policies, and listen to the views and suggestions from multinational corporations. In addition, the content of the Qingdao Multinationals Declaration will be divulged at the summit, followed by discussions of the issues specifically related to multinational corporations.

So far, 188 leaders from overseas multinational corporations in 26 countries and regions have confirmed their intent to join the summit, including 49 executives from the world's top 500 companies. The guests will include 43 chief executive officers and 28 c-suite executives with global responsibilities, as well as 66 chief executive officers and 51 c-suite executives with oversight of the Asia Pacific region including China. In terms of region, the largest contingent originated from Europe, with 61 of the attending companies based there, followed by Japan and South Korea, while 28 companies are from the US, 7 are from ASEAN and 7 are from other countries and regions, including Australia, Canada and India. 53 multinational corporations headquartered in China have also confirmed their intent to attend the summit.

Mr. Qian said that the Chinese government will continue to deepen the discussions and exchanges with companies from abroad based on the theme of "Combination of Management and Open, Optimizing Services", establish a set of standards for investment and trade liberalization, as well as put policies in place to facilitate these initiatives as we look into the future, to better serve the needs for investment and management of multinational corporations in China.