On the evening of 18 May 2022, the Conference on the 70th Anniversary of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) and the Global Trade and Investment Promotion Summit was held in Beijing. Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the conference via video. Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) delivered video speeches. Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua presided over the summit and attended related activities. Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in China and Ambassador Khek Caimealy Sysoda of Cambodia to China attended the conference offline and delivered a speech. Heads of business associations from the UK, Japan and the US made video remarks. Secretary-General Chen Dehai of the ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) attended the conference online.  

The participants spoke highly of CCPIT’s active contributions towards promoting China’s foreign trade and investment cooperation, fully affirmed the important role of free trade and the multilateral trading system in global economic development, and called on all parties to strengthen cooperation in maintaining supply chain security, promoting digital transformation and fostering sustainable development, so as to jointly address the challenges of the pandemic and work together to revitalise the world economy.

The Beijing Initiative of Global Trade and Investment Promotion Summit was launched at the conference, which calls on the global business community to deepen cooperation in the health sector, promote trade and investment liberalisation and facilitation, actively promote global development, stick to the innovation-driven approach, and jointly promote green, low-carbon and sustainable development.

With the theme of “Bring Together Trade Promotion Forces for Openness and Development”, about 200 representatives from trade promotion associations, enterprises and relevant international organisations from 59 countries and regions attended the conference online. About 200 guests including diplomats from relevant countries, representatives of business associations and multinational companies in Beijing, as well as representatives of relevant ministries and companies attended the conference offline. In addition, more than 11,000 participants including heads of governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities of China, representatives of regional, industrial and community-level sub-councils of CCPIT, as well as local business representatives attended the conference online.