Following the close of the fifth Qingdao Multinationals Summit on Aug 29 in Qingdao, Shandong province, global entrepreneurs are cordially invited to invest in China, where they can strive for mutually beneficial outcomes, thereby jointly forging a brighter future for both sides.

Guests attend the fifth Qingdao Multinationals Summit from Aug 27 to 29 in Qingdao, Shandong province. [Photo by Hou Chengze/chinadaily.com.cn]

During the three-day event, agreements for a total of 163 investment and trade projects were signed, including 121 investment projects valued at $12.9 billion and 42 trade projects worth $40.4 billion.

Sun Qisheng, spokesman of Shandong Provincial People's Government, said that the event brought together a distinguished gathering of 451 multinational companies, including 140 Fortune 500 companies and 311 industry-leading companies, to exchange insights on their experience and strategies in the Chinese market.

Multinationals have been of great importance as participants, witnesses, and beneficiaries throughout China's 40-plus years of reform and opening-up. According to Yu Zirong, vice-president of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, as of June 2024, foreign companies had established over 1.2 million enterprises in China, with total actual utilized foreign capital exceeding 20.3 trillion yuan ($2.86 trillion).

"As a national-level open platform, the summit has played a significant role in attracting and utilizing high-quality foreign investment," said Yu, adding that the Ministry of Commerce will continue to work with Shandong to use the summit as a bridge between MNC's investment and business development in China. QMS aims to be more pragmatic and efficient as a high-level platform for international exchange and cooperation, thereby making more contributions to advancing high-standard opening-up.

Projects are signed during the fifth Qingdao Multinationals Summit from Aug 27 to 29 in Qingdao, Shandong province, which continued its theme "Multinational Corporations and China". [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Zhang Qingwei, deputy director of the Department of Commerce of Shandong, highlighted that over the past five years, the Qingdao summit has focused on the theme of "Multinationals and China", acting as a conduit for communication and collaboration among various stakeholders.

According to Zhang, this year's summit has attracted higher-level multinational company attendees, covering a wider array of fields and yielding deeper cooperation than ever before.