China Development Forum (CDF), the first major international conference after China's two sessions this year, kicked off in Beijing on Sunday, attracting the wide attendance of international organizations as well as CEOs from over 80 multinational giants including Apple, Corning Inc and Mercedes-Benz Group, which underscores the enormous attractiveness and huge potential of the world's second-largest economy.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Sunday pledged to unswervingly advance opening up and cooperation amid rising global instability and uncertainty.

Li made the remarks in a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the China Development Forum 2025 in Beijing.

China will continue to welcome enterprises from around the world with open arms, further expand market access, actively address the concerns of businesses, and facilitate the deeper integration of foreign-funded enterprises into the Chinese market, he said.

He said China will safeguard free trade, and contribute to the smooth and stable operation of global industrial and supply chains.

China has set its full-year growth target at around 5 percent for 2025. Li said the decision reflects both China's profound understanding of its fundamental economic conditions and strong confidence in its governance capacity and future development potential, and pledged efforts to strengthen policy support while stimulating market forces in order to achieve the target.

"The Premier gave a very realistic and upbeat account of China. And it was very, very good," Jeffrey Sachs, a professor of Columbia University, told the Global Times on the sidelines of the forum.

Sachs said Premier Li's emphasis on China's technological advances and China's openness to the world for cooperation and for trade and for investment are positive messages very well received at the forum. "They are the basis for great optimism that China's rapid growth will continue on the basis of highly innovative economy producing the goods and services that the rest of the world very much needs," he said.

The China Development Forum 2025 is scheduled from March 23 to 24. The theme of this year's forum is "Unleashing Development Momentum for Stable Growth of Global Economy."

Guests to the China Development Forum 2025 pose for a group photo on March 23, 2025 in Beijing ahead of the opening ceremony of the forum. Photo: cnsphoto

Wide participation

As an annual high-level event hosted by the Development Research Center of the State Council, China's cabinet, the two-day event generally attracts a large group of globally leading multinational CEOs. According to the organizer of the event, official representatives of 86 multinational companies from 21 countries attended the forum this year, many of which are US companies.

In addition, some heads of international organizations including Dilma Rousseff, chair of the New Development Bank, Masato Kanda, president of the Asian Development Bank, Anna Bjerde, managing director of Operations at the World Bank, and 14 representatives of organizations including Asia Society and US-China Business Council also attended the forum.

"Definitely, we have confidence for China's development. We have been invested consistently for decades in China, and we will continue for decades to come. We see opportunities across the board for us, including our display business and automotive business," Wendell P. Weeks, CEO of US firm Corning Inc, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Michael Nelson, CEO of US big-health firm Amway, told the Global Times on the sidelines of the CDF on Sunday that the company plans 2.1-billion-yuan investment in the China market over the next five years. He said the company pays great attention to the Healthy China Initiative, stressing that it is focused on the health and health span of Chinese into the future.

Apple CEO Tim Cook also attended the forum, during which Ren Hongbin, president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade held talk with Cook.

Ahead of the forum, Cook shared his photo taken in Beijing's Jingshan Park on Saturday on Sina Weibo.

This year, European companies also account for an important share of foreign multinationals, including German carmaker BMW, London-based professional services provider KPMG and Swedish home furnishing giant IKEA.

The number of multinationals that see official representatives at the forum for the first time reached a new high this year, with more companies from Global South countries, including India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brazil.

"We have been in China for more than 16 years. We have many common interests here," Jon Abrahamsson Ring, CEO of Ikea, told the Global Times on Sunday. He spoke highly of China's commitment to opening-up. "We think it's a good direction. We want that to happen in every part in Americas, in Europe and in China," he said.

"Although the global economy faces growing uncertainties, the wide attendance of foreign CEOs at the forum sends an important signal that China remains a key destination for foreign investment," Zhou Mi, a senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Through visiting China, they can get first-hand information about China's economic development in 2025 and strengthen their ties with Chinese business partners so as to support their future decisions, Zhou said.

Upbeat outlook

Other senior Chinese officials including Han Wenxiu, executive deputy director of the Office of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs, Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu, and Zheng Shanjie, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, also attended the forum on Sunday.

Amid rising external instability and uncertainty, China will remain firmly focused on pursuing its own development, leveraging the certainty of high-quality growth to offset external uncertainties and striving to serve as a stabilizing anchor for the global economy, Han said.

In 2024, China's GDP reached a record 134.9 trillion yuan ($18.81 trillion), marking a 5-percent year-on-year increase. This year, China's 2025 GDP growth target of around 5 percent, alongside the measures the country will implement to meet this goal, demonstrates its confidence and prowess in securing new achievements in high-quality development.

"China is a major force for economic growth in the world economy. If China can achieve around 5 percent target for 2025, that will be a really great achievement," John Quelch, Executive Vice Chancellor of Duke Kunshan University, told the Global Times on Sunday.

For the foreign companies and foreign enterprises, China's around 5 percent growth target means a degree of stability, Michele Geraci, former undersecretary of state at the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, told the Global Times on Sunday.

"My expectations are that more European companies can realize that China is still a place to invest," Geraci said.

Foreign CEOs' and scholars' strengthened confidence in investing in the world's second-largest economy came as China vigorously encourage foreign investment and make strenuous efforts to improve business environment for foreign companies. This year's Government Work Report stressed, "Regardless of changes in the external environment, we should remain steadfast in our commitment to opening up." 

Since the start of 2025, China has taken multi-pronged measures to stabilize foreign investment. In January, the country issued an action plan to stabilize foreign investment, as the country mulls expanding the scope of its opening-up pilot program this year, while related government agencies have helped resolve more than 500 issues for foreign-funded enterprises through roundtable meetings, according to the MOFCOM.

"TCP Group believes that 'To invest in China is to invest in the future.' We are firmly positive about China's economic prospects and cast a vote of confidence by continuously expanding investment in China," Saravoot Yoovidhya, CEO of TCP Group, told the Global Times.