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Global business leaders eager to expand research, increase investment in China

China

China

China

Global business leaders eager to expand research, increase investment in China

2025-03-25 09:17 Last Updated At:16:17

Global business leaders expressed their enthusiasm for expanding research and increasing investment in China at the China Development Forum 2025.

Themed "Unleashing Development Momentum for Stable Growth of Global Economy", the two-day forum, which brought together 86 official delegates from multinational companies from 21 countries, concluded on Monday in Beijing.

The executives attending the forum are keenly interested in China's economic dynamics and development strategies, with many arriving early to gain deeper insights into China's economic policies and technological progress.

During interviews with China Central Television (CCTV), the business leaders highlighted the buzzwords in China's development.

"That's a trade-in program, and I think that's a good sponsorship for consumption," said Stefan Hartung, chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH, a German multinational engineering and technology company.

"We actually have strong partnerships with DeepSeek," said Michael Nelson, president and CEO of Amway, an American company that sells health, beauty and home care products.

"New quality productive forces are really the future of China," said Jean-Pascal Tricoire, CEO and chairman of the multinational electricity company Schneider Electric.

As the business leaders seek to increase presence in the country's vast market, they specified the regions where they aim to boost their investment in China.

"For us the opportunity is to penetrate all the cities," said Anil Wadhwani, CEO of Prudential plc, a British-domiciled multinational insurance and asset management company.

"We are opening up an organic farm in Sichuan Province, and so we will have a groundbreaking of that in the next several months," said Nelson.

"The places where we invest are the places where we do R and D, where we do manufacturing," said Tricoire.

"We need icy conditions for driving on ice, so we have to be in the north, right? Wuxi businesses, in Taicang, Suzhou, in Chongqing, in many areas we build up new businesses," said Hartung.

The business leaders also expressed their aspirations to diversify their portfolio in China, actively seeking out new avenues for growth and opportunity.

"And China needs more consumption. We are increasing our lineup for the home appliances," said Hartung.

"We continue to look at anti-aging products, we continue to invest into research and development capabilities," said Nelson. "We are developing with China green hydrogen. We want to develop the supply chain of desalination in China," said Mohammed Abunayyan, chairman of the board of ACWA Power, a Saudi Arabian company on power generation and desalinated water production.

Global business leaders eager to expand research, increase investment in China

Global business leaders eager to expand research, increase investment in China

Global business leaders eager to expand research, increase investment in China

Global business leaders eager to expand research, increase investment in China

The Langqi passenger terminal in Fuzhou of east China's Fujian Province officially commenced a new departure tax refund initiative for travelers heading on the "mini three links" route on Tuesday, with streamlined measures boosting the efficiency of tax refunds and speeding up customs clearance procedures.

The "mini three links" refers to direct trade, postal and transport services launched in 2001 between Fujian Province and the Taiwan-administered Kinmen and Matsu islands. It serves as a vital, convenient cross-strait passage for personnel exchanges and economic and trade interactions between the Chinese mainland and the Taiwan region.

At the heart of the upgraded service is an optimized procedure dubbed the "one document, one bag, one code" process, a simple and streamlined model designed to shorten clearance time for outbound passengers.

Under this framework, travelers who make purchases at designated pilot tax refund stores can have their qualified goods consolidated into a single sealed bag, with all corresponding tax refund information integrated into a unique QR code printed on the tax refund application form.

When departing via the Langqi passenger terminal, on-site customs officers only need to scan the QR code to retrieve and verify the details relating to the applicant's tax refund application. Travelers can then get quick customs clearance once the information is confirmed to be accurate, with no requirement to open their sealed shopping bags for repeated inspections.

Departure tax refund services launched at "mini three links" port in Fuzhou

Departure tax refund services launched at "mini three links" port in Fuzhou

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