This photo taken on March 24, 2024 shows the opening ceremony of the China Development Forum 2024 in Beijing, capital of China. The China Development Forum 2024 is scheduled from March 24 to March 25. The theme of this year's forum is "The Continuous Development of China". (Xinhua/Li Xin)

The two-day China Development Forum 2024 kicked off in Beijing on March 24 with Chinese Premier Li Qiang attending and delivering a keynote speech. Over 110 guests from international organizations, Fortune Global 500 companies, and global business circles engaged in constructive exchanges on key and cutting-edge issues related to China's development and global development. This year, there has been an increase in the number of CEOs from multinational corporations attending the forum compared to last year, reflecting the confidence and interest of multinational corporations in the Chinese market, as well as the phased effects of China's high-level opening-up.

The forum this year releases and further reinforces important messages in three aspects. First, the strong fundamentals of the Chinese economy remain unchanged and will continue to provide driving force and certainty to the world economy. Second, China will adhere to the new development philosophy, construct a new development pattern, achieve higher-quality development and provide new opportunities for the world with its own development. Third, China is firmly committed to expanding its opening-up and providing broader market space and a better business environment for enterprises from all countries.

Multinational corporations in China are highly attuned to the development trends and potential of the Chinese economy, and have the most direct experience with policies and determination of China's opening-up. Most CEOs attending the forum emphasized the importance of the Chinese market, expressed their expectations for cooperation with China and shared their investment and development plans in the country. Their expanding investments demonstrate their positive outlook on the Chinese economy. It is unnecessary and shortsighted to exaggerate the competitiveness brought about by the transformation and upgrading of the Chinese economy. Those who disparage the Chinese economy in Western media often lack expertise in economics, while Western multinational corporations often view their Chinese counterparts with an open and mutually beneficial mindset.

Premier Li stated in his keynote speech that a more open China will bring more opportunities for win-win cooperation to the world. China is ready to share with the world the great opportunities of China's sustained development and work with all parties to create a bright future of common development, the premier added. How to better seize the great opportunities brought by China's sustained development is both a matter of cognition and capability for multinational enterprises. The market is constantly changing, the world economy is facing many challenges, and the Chinese economy is undergoing a major transformation. Today, the Chinese economy is deeply integrated with the world economy, and the process of China's economic transformation is also a process of mutual evolution with the world economy, which will inevitably require overcoming various challenges, but more importantly, it will generate more opportunities. 

The China Development Forum has become one of the top platforms in the world economic circle today, and an important reason is that China's policy orientation provides important reference for the development of the world economy. Indermit Gill, chief economist of the World Bank Group and senior vice president for development economics, emphasized that the 2020s should have been a transformative decade for development, but without a major course correction, the 2020s will go down as "a decade of wasted opportunity." The "new quality productive forces" proposed by the Chinese government is not only the engine for achieving high-quality development for China, but also the direction that the global economy collectively looks forward to.

Since the beginning of this year, China has been making frequent big moves in promoting high-level opening-up to the outside world, striving to improve the business environment, expand market access, strengthen intellectual property protection, and promote the signing of free trade agreements. This has provided a more stable and solid market environment and legal protection for multinational companies to develop in China. The new achievements that China has continuously made in technological innovation, such as telecommunications, artificial intelligence, and new energy, have greatly expanded the cooperation between China and multinational companies. China's consumption upgrade, green development, etc., all cannot be separated from the participation and contribution of multinational companies. The combination of the Chinese economy and multinational companies has infinite possibilities.

For the world, the massive opportunities generated by China, as an economic entity of such scale, in nurturing and developing new quality productive forces, are a blue ocean that can influence many years to come. The cooperation between Huawei and multinational companies such as Ericsson and Nokia in the field of 5G technology has jointly promoted the development of the global 5G industry. In addition, Chinese new energy companies have cooperated with multinational automakers in the development and production of new energy vehicles, intelligent driving, and other fields, achieving mutual benefits. These stories of mutual achievement and mutual benefit will become more common.