【Gao Feng, Deputy director of the general office of the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, spokesman】 Dear friends from the press, Good morning, welcome to press conference for Qingdao Multinationals Summit today. Attending today’s conference are Mr.Qian Keming, vice-minister of the Ministry of Commerce, Ms.Ren Airong, deputy governor of Shandong province, I am Gao Feng, host of today's press conference, vice-director of the general office of the Ministry of Commerce, and spokesperson.

Today vice-minister Qian Keming will introduce to you the background and basic information of the QMS, deputy governor Ms. Ren Airong will introduce to you the preparatory work of the Summit and supporting exhibitions. Now I would like to give the floor to Mr. Qian Keming.

【Qian Keqiang  vice-minister of the Ministry of Commerce】Dear friends from the press: Good morning. I am delighted to attend this press conference with Ms. Ren Airong, deputy governor of Shandong province, talking about the Qingdao Multinationals Summit. Now I will introduce to you the background and basic information of the Summit.”

The summit is held under President Xi’s instruction of supporting Chinese cities in hosting flagship international events, which are excellent opportunities to bolster the cities, and against the backdrop of the expanding influence of Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

In June 2018, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit was held successfully in Qingdao. President Xi Jinping made important instructions afterwards. The SCO Summit has brought new opportunities to the development of Shandong province, especially Qingdao city. We hope to draw on the experience of " bolstering a city by hosting an excellent meeting ", promote excellent practice and working-style, spread the influence of these meetings and push the work forward.  To implement the important instruction of President Xi Jinping, the Ministry of Commerce and the Shandong provincial government decided to host the Qingdao Multinational Cooperation Leaders Summit with the approval the State Council, to demonstrate China’s determination of opening-up. The Summit focuses on the development of multinationals and their cooperation with China, so as to keep expanding the influence of these meetings and build a new platform for China’s further opening-up.  

The Summit is an important achievement resulted from the cooperation between the Ministry of Commerce and Shandong province, which both sides made great effort and preparation. Taking it as an important part of the cooperation between the Ministry of Commerce and Shandong provincial government, the Ministry of Commerce attaches great importance to the Summit by making the general plan and appointing me and Ms. Ren Airong as co-director of this Summit, the Ministry of Commerce Research Institute as the main organizer, 12 others from all departments of the Ministry of Commerce as members of the organizing committee. The Ministry of Commerce also supports the Summit in setting agenda, inviting leaders of international organizations and multinational corporations and news propaganda etc. The Ministry of Commerce will also hold closed-door meeting themed with the implementation of Foreign Investment Law to invite opinions from other multinational companies on further refining the various systems and supporting regulations under the Law.

The Summit will show our progress in further opening-up and our determination and confidence to open up to the outside world with mutual benefit and win-win results.  President Xi Jinping said that China will never close its door to the outside world and will only open wider. He called on China to participate actively in globalization, develop an open economy at a higher level, and foster a new pattern of all-round opening up. The summit is to implement the measures taken by the CPC central committee and the State Council to promote a new round of high-level opening-up. This summit will invite the leaders of world's top 500 companies and leading enterprises in the industry, differentiating from the existing well-known BBS worldwide. Multinational corporations, with their global strategic layout, are powerful drivers of economic globalization and important global corporations. Multinational corporations play an important role in building a community of shared interests, responsibilities and future, safeguarding the multilateral economic system and building a new international relationship that is fair. In the current complex and severe external environment, hosting a summit for leaders of multinational corporations shows our declaration to promote a new round of all-round opening up, which is conducive to boost our confidence in cooperating with multinational corporations in a mutually beneficial way.

The Summit will serve as a platform for our cooperation with other multinational companies, expanding the communication between local government and multinationals. First of all, the Qingdao Multinationals Summit will focus on issues that these companies concern and build platform for multinationals to discuss with China and achieve win-win result. On December 18, 2018, at the conference celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Reform and Opening up, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed in his speech that we must continue to open up, take our responsibilities as a major country, work with other countries to build a new platform for international cooperation, and inject new impetus to the world common development. At present, about 490 world's top 500 companies have invested in China. Meanwhile, many Chinese enterprises have also accelerated their pace in internationalization. The number of Chinese companies listed in the fortune 500 has been increasing continuously with 11 companies in 2001, 129 companies in 2019.

As the department in charge of China’s open economy, the Ministry of Commerce takes the lead in organizing the Qingdao Multinationals Summit, building a high-level platform for dialogue between multinational companies, political and academic circles, and discussing major issues such as development, cooperation, responsibility and governance of multinational companies. On the one hand, we can narrow the distance between the leaders of multinationals, strengthen exchanges, enhance mutual trust, build consensus and expand cooperation. On the other hand, we can make our voice heard regarding hot issues involving multinational corporations by issuing documents such as the "Qingdao Declaration of Multinational Corporation Leaders".

What’s more, the Summit is conducive to expanding the communication and cooperation between provinces, cities and transnational corporations. Focusing on the whole picture of national opening-up, the summit will be held in Qingdao to serve every province and city in China. While gathering world well-known multinational companies, it also opens to the domestic companies and invites some of the provinces to be the main guests, so that both sides could have pragmatic cooperation and communication, building an institutionalized communication platform for high quality investment and attracting talent.

 As important participants, witnesses, contributors and beneficiaries, multinational companies have played an irreplaceable role in the 40 years of China's reform and opening-up. The Chinese government attaches great importance to mutually beneficial cooperation with multinational companies and their opinions. In the future, China's policy stance on encouraging foreign investment would remain unchanged. China will also provide more investment opportunities for multinational companies and foster an investment environment that is more stable, fair, transparent and predictable.

Thank you!