The Annual Conference of Financial Street Forum 2023 was held in Beijing on November 8, 2023, co-hosted by Beijing Municipal Government, People’s Bank of China, National Administration of Financial Regulation, China Securities Regulatory Commission, Xinhua News Agency, and State Administration of Foreign Exchange. CIC co-hosted a parallel forum during the Annual Conference on Industrial Cooperation and Sustainable Development of Cross-border Investment Between China and the Middle East.

Mr. JU Weimin, Vice Chairman, President and Chief Investment Officer of CIC, delivered the opening speech of the parallel forum. He observed that China has a vast consumer market, a complete industrial system, and advantages in manufacturing, new energy, Internet technology, etc. Countries from the Middle East are vigorously promoting energy transition and actively promoting the development of manufacturing, technology, "Internet +" and other fields, and China's economic structure is highly complementary. Deepening financial and industrial cooperation will not only contribute to the sustainable development of both economies, but will also bring more opportunities to the world. CIC is a persistent long-term investor that invests around the globe to support the long-term development of the world economy. The company actively develops new ways for outbound investment to support the integration of global supply chains and industrial chains that generate win-win outcomes, while working to build an ecosystem for cross-border investment that bridges global industrial cooperation. It also emphasizes sustainable investing and seeks to empower green development of the world. CIC is willing to join forces with all partners to transform the economic complementarity between China and the Middle East into a driving force for development and achieve common prosperity and development.

Mr. TAN Xuxiang, Deputy Secretary General of the People’s government of Beijing Municipality, said in his speech that in recent years Beijing has been quite successful in fostering new dynamics for high-level opening-up. Going forward, Beijing will step up the construction of the National Free Trade Pilot Zone and the National Service Industry Expansion and Opening-up Comprehensive Demonstration Zone from a global perspective, and explore new pilot reform policies in terms of two-way opening up of the financial industry, cross-border capital flows, and investment and financing facilitation. It is hoped that more investment institutions and enterprises from the Middle East will invest in Beijing and deeply participate in the opening up and development of Beijing's financial industry and the construction of an international science and technology innovation center.

During the keynote address section, Mr. JIN Liqun, President of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), said that the AIIB has developed rapidly since its establishment and has grown into an important global multilateral institution with 109 member economies, approving more than US$45 billion to 36 members to support its economic and social sustainable development projects, including 12 billion dollar investments in the Middle East and North Africa region. Currently, the world is facing multiple challenges such as intensifying geopolitical conflicts, accelerating climate change, and slowing economic growth, and urgently needs international cooperation to deal with them. The AIIB will continue to increase investment in areas such as connectivity and climate change, strive to mobilize private capital, strengthen cooperation with other development institutions, and actively help and support members to respond to global challenges.

Mr. REN Hongbin, President of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), said that in recent years, China and countries from the Middle East have carried out a large number of fruitful cooperation under the jointly fostered "Belt and Road" framework. It is hoped that Chinese enterprises will carry forward the spirit of the Silk Road, adhere to the principles of high standards, benefiting people's livelihood, and sustainability, consolidate cooperation with countries from the Middle East in traditional fields, continuously expand new areas of cooperation, and promote the steady and long-term economic and trade cooperation between China and the Middle East. It is hoped that more financial institutions and enterprises from the Middle East will explore and expand investments in China and share in the development opportunities of the Chinese market.

Mr. LIU Jin, Vice Chairman and President of the Bank of China, said that the Bank of China highly values the Middle East market and is willing to work with all parties contributing to the consolidate cooperation between China and the Middle East. He suggested working in three aspects to further promote cross-border investment cooperation between the two parties: first, strengthening the coordination and linkage of various financial institutions; second, steadily promoting the internationalization of the RMB; third, actively developing green finance and jointly promoting sustainable development.

Martin Tricaud, CEO of the First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) Investment Banking; Hazem Ben-Gacem, Co-CEO of InvestCorp Middle East; Hitesh Asarpota, CEO of Emirates National Bank of Dubai (NBD) Capital; Stephen Moss, CEO of HSBC Middle East and North Africa; as well as other senior executives of domestic and foreign financial institutions focused on "strengthening two-way investment between China and the Middle East" and "cross-border investment to promote sustainable development" exchanged opinions and suggestions. The guests believed that the investment market in the Middle East has become increasingly active in recent years and has become an emerging area attracting international capital. China continues to promote high-level opening up to the outside world and create an international first-class business environment, providing opportunities for international investment institutions and enterprises including the Middle East. The two parties have broad prospects for future cooperation in areas such as sustainable development, high-end manufacturing, and healthcare.

During the roundtable discussion, global executives from China International Capital Corporation, ACWA Power, Goldwind Sci & Tech, JA Solar and eWTP Arabia Capital conduct in-depth discussions on topics such as "Capital assists global green and sustainable growth", "Middle East enterprises' business expansion in China" and "China and Middle East enterprises cooperate to promote sustainable development". The guests said that the Middle East is vigorously promoting energy transition and is one of the most important participants of sustainable development in the future. In recent years, Chinese wind power and photovoltaic companies have experienced rapid growth. As a leading force in the field of renewable energy, the two parties have great potential for future cooperation. The financial enterprises can play an important role in information exchange, industry docking and project incubation.

Mr. GUO Xiangjun, Executive Vice President and Deputy Chief Investment Officer of China Investment Corporation, and Mr. XU Zhibin, member of the Executive Committee of China Investment Corporation, hosted the forum's keynote speech and roundtable discussion respectively. Representatives from relevant Chinese government departments and leading global investment institutions attended the conference.