The first Qingdao Multinationals Summit was held from October 19 to 20 with the theme of "multinationals and China". China hosted this Summit amid sluggish global trade and investment, demonstrating its determination to further open up. 115 Fortune 500 companies, 284 leading companies and more than 5,100 guests attended the Summit, demonstrating the importance multinationals attach to China's opportunities and their confidence in China's further opening up.

William Zarit, the chairman Emeritus of AmCham China, believed that the success of the Qingdao Multinationals Summit is very important to the development of Shandong. He was impressed with strong support for the Summit by the Shandong Party Secretary Liu Jiayi, Provincial Governor Gong Zheng and the central government.

During the Parallel Panel, William Zarit summed up the experience of attending the Summit in four words: "mutual understanding". He said the world market is in rapid change so in the process of people need to know each other more. However, the current attention to this is far from enough.