Signs for the Annual Conference of Financial Street Forum 2024 are displayed on Beijing Financial Street on October 18, 2024. Photo: Courtesy of Financial Street Forum

Senior Chinese officials have made renewed commitments to expand the country's high-level opening-up and encourage foreign investment during the Annual Conference of Financial Street Forum (FSF) 2024 in Beijing in recent days, underscoring the country's commitment to opening up its vast market to global companies.

Foreign enterprises from a wide range of industries including finance, logistics and retail are optimistic about China's economic prospects, looking to expand their operations in the world's second-largest economy amid China's ramped-up efforts to attract foreign investment and promote high-quality development.

Opening-up is a hallmark of Chinese modernization and an important driving force behind the reform and development of China's financial industry, Li Yunze, head of the National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA), said in a speech delivered to the opening ceremony of the FSF on Friday.

"China has been a popular destination for global investment and its doors will continue to open wider," Li said. With higher standards, greater strength and more forceful measures, we strive to build a market-oriented, rule-of-law-based and internationalized business environment, and continuously promote high-level opening-up of the financial sector, Li said.

Wu Qing, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), said at the same forum that the CSRC will firmly boost broad institutional opening-up in the market, institutions and products, deepen the connectivity between domestic and overseas markets, expand the overseas listing of enterprises and encourage more foreign institutions to carry out business in China.

These officials' remarks drew positive responses from foreign enterprises that eye expanding their footprints in China.

"There are multiple opportunities for us in China," Pierre Martelly, chief insurance officer of Generali International Asia, told the Global Times on the sidelines of the FSF on Saturday.

Martelly said the company is engaged in businesses including life insurance, savings, pensions, property and casualty insurance, and asset management in China.

"Today, we discuss green insurance and green development opportunities [at the forum]. We have a lot of expertise from Europe, but the biggest investments into EV, solar and wind power are actually happening in China. So by combining our insurance expertise and all the assets that are being developed in China, we can do great business together," Martelly said.

In January, Generali announced that it would pay around $108 million to acquire the 51 percent share in Generali China Insurance Co Ltd, which represents "a long-term strategic investment to develop a fully owned and controlled general insurance business in China," according to a press release on the company's website.

According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday, China's GDP grew by 4.8 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters of 2024, reaching 94.97 trillion yuan. This growth indicates that China's economy continues to show positive and resilient growth momentum amid various internal and external challenges, NBS official and experts said.

"China is the second-largest economy in the world, and China is set to continue to grow. No doubt about it," Abdulla Alhashmi, chief operating officer of global leading port operator DP World, told the Global Times on Saturday, noting that he believes in the long-term outlook of the Chinese economy and its resilience.

We would like to be further entrenched in the supply chain of the factories of China, Alhashmi said. "The opportunities that we see in the Chinese markets are endless. China is a very large economic market. We believe there is a huge potential for us to tap into the logistics sector," he said.

DP World has been investing aggressively over the past 10 years in China, particularly in ports and warehousing capabilities.

Commitment to opening-up

China's renewed plan for opening-up is part of a comprehensive set of reforms outlined in a document released after the third plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China Central Committee.

The country has pledged to foster a first-class business environment, protect the rights and interests of foreign investors, further open its commodities, services, capital, and labor markets to the world, and expand a globally oriented network of high-standard free trade areas, according to the document.

To inspire more foreign direct investment in the country, Chinese authorities have removed restrictions on manufacturing access as part of China's efforts to further accelerate the opening-up drive. At the beginning of 2024, the State Council, the cabinet, promulgated a 24-point action plan, outlining a wide range of measures to expand market access in key Chinese industries, ensure equal participation of foreign companies in government bidding, and facilitate the exchange of international business personnel.

On Thursday, the NFRA approved BNP Paribas and Volkswagen Financial Services to jointly set up a property insurance company in Beijing. Prudential Financial has also received approval to establish an insurance asset management firm in Beijing, marking one of the latest steps in the country's opening-up.

Opening-up boosts trade activities between the second-largest economy and the world, thereby greatly facilitating global economic recovery. At the same time, China is providing the world with competitive and cost-effective products as the nation pursues new quality productive forces, Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

As China continues to improve the business environment and boost the development of new quality productive forces, foreign capital and enterprises will continue to flow into the Chinese market in the future, according to Wang.