From March 23rd to 24th, Chinese and foreign politicians, experts and scholars, leaders of Fortune 500 companies and industry leaders, heads of international organizations, and other guests from home and abroad gathered in Beijing to attend the China Development Forum 2025 Annual Meeting. The exchange and dialogue on the forum have released positive signals that all parties still have a positive outlook on China's economic development prospects. Steady Growth: China Injects Certainty into Global Economic Development "Fully Releasing Development Momentum and Jointly Promoting Stable Global Economic Growth" - This is the theme of this year's annual meeting, which embodies the global expectation for sustained economic growth in the increasingly complex and severe situation. We are meeting during a period of global economic uncertainty, where trade barriers, weak investment, financial instability, and geopolitical changes are all challenging the global economy On the opening day of the special seminar on macroeconomic policies and economic growth, Dilma Rousseff, the President of the New Development Bank, spoke frankly. The global economy is facing more new challenges and uncertainties, which is a consensus among many heads of international organizations. Today we stand at a crossroads, facing the risk of losing the development achievements of the past decade in the context of uncertainty, "said Anna Bieder, Executive Vice President of Operations at the World Bank. On March 23rd, the China Development Forum 2025 Annual Meeting opened in Beijing. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Xin This year, China has set an expected economic growth target of around 5%. How do you view the prospects of China's economic development? Standard Chartered Group CEO Wentuosi expressed optimism about this goal. He believes that the Chinese government's increased fiscal spending, vigorous boost of consumption, and introduction of a series of measures to stabilize the real estate market are key factors in ensuring the achievement of annual growth targets. The economic growth target of around 5% proposed by China this year can be fully achieved Jeffrey Sacks, a professor at Columbia University, said in an interview that China is booming in the fields of digitalization, artificial intelligence and robotics, and is leading the world in new energy, digital technology, etc. Expanding exports to emerging economies and promoting the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road" have also contributed to steady economic growth. China has maintained its position as the world's largest exporter and second largest importer of goods for several consecutive years, and its economy has continued to recover and improve, leaving a deep impression on the CEO of HSBC Holdings Group, Ash Ai. Based on such a solid foundation, we believe that China will continue to provide impetus for world economic growth in 2025 and the next five years, "said Nigel Clark, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Although the proportion of Chinese household consumption to GDP has increased, it is still at a lower level compared to OECD countries. If reform measures aimed at boosting consumption and improving productivity can be implemented, China's potential economic growth rate is expected to further increase. Since the beginning of this year, a series of policy measures have been implemented to expand consumption, deepen supply side structural reform, promote the continuous transformation of new and old development drivers, comprehensively rectify "internal competition", and effectively prevent and resolve risks in key areas... These measures are accelerating their implementation, safeguarding the stable and far-reaching development of the Chinese economy. Han Wenxiu, Deputy Director in charge of daily work at the Office of the Central Financial and Economic Commission, stated that in the face of increasing external uncertainties and instability, China will steadfastly handle its own affairs, respond to the uncertainty of the external environment with the certainty of high-quality development, and strive to provide a "stable anchor" for the development of the world economy. Siemens has a team of approximately 30000 people in China, including over 5400 R&D and innovation experts, to provide new momentum for the development of the global economy; BMW is deepening its strategic cooperation with leading Chinese technology companies, deeply integrating cloud interaction capabilities with personalized experiences of generative artificial intelligence... At the forum, many multinational company leaders shared exciting stories of innovation with Chinese partners, conveying the common voice of "innovation injects resilience into the Chinese economy". "Chinese people love innovation. If you collaborate with Chinese engineers, they actually won't say 'no' and often do better. Here, enormous development potential can be unleashed Mercedes Benz Group Chairman Kang Linsong said that innovation is China's competitive advantage and the reason why Mercedes Benz has been deeply rooted in the Chinese market. In 2024, China's global innovation index ranking rose to 11th place, making it one of the economies with the fastest increase in innovation power in the past decade, and also the country with the most top 100 technology innovation clusters. In the first two months of this year, the production of high-tech products such as integrated circuit wafers, industrial robots, high-speed trains, and civilian drones in China increased by 19.6%, 27%, 64%, and 91.5% year-on-year, respectively. Users ask questions on the DeepSeek mobile app. Photo by Huang Zongzhi, Xinhua News Agency: "China's innovation is constantly bringing surprises to the world, such as DeepSeek's latest high-performance and high openness AI model." Siemens AG Chairman Boren said that in the face of the problem of where growth comes from, China has already given the answer: to pursue high-quality growth with high technology and high efficiency. In today's China, technological breakthroughs represented by start-ups such as the "Hangzhou Six Little Dragons" continue to emerge, and "artificial intelligence+" opens up infinite possibilities for new applications and scenarios in various industries... The vigorous development of new quality productivity not only accumulates momentum for the Chinese economy, but also injects vitality into the world economy. AI is fundamentally changing various industries and reshaping the economy Nigel Clark stated that it is expected that AI will drive global GDP growth by 0.1 to 0.8 percentage points annually over the next five years. Open and cooperative China brings new opportunities for global economic development. Guests attending the 2025 Annual Meeting of the China Development Forum exchanged ideas during the forum's tea break. Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Xin's photo. Faced with the increasing fragmentation and instability of the world economy, Chinese and foreign guests attending the meeting expressed their expectation to further strengthen international cooperation and jointly address risks and challenges. No country can achieve lasting prosperity alone. Even in times of uncertainty, cooperation has been historically proven to be a catalyst for shared prosperity Asian Development Bank President Shinobu Kanda said. BMW Group Chairman Zipser stated that addressing global challenges requires deepening international cooperation and industrial integration, rather than going the other way. Protectionism has no way out and will only lead to a complete loss. It is unreasonable for the European Commission to impose anti subsidy taxes on electric vehicles made in China. This not only distorts competitiveness, but also disrupts the market. Our industry is globalized, and all links are interconnected. We should make every effort to eliminate barriers, rather than adding them. This year's government work report clearly proposes measures such as "encouraging foreign investors to expand reinvestment" and "effectively guaranteeing national treatment for foreign-funded enterprises in terms of factor acquisition, qualification permits, standard setting, government procurement, etc.", sending a strong signal that China is firmly committed to promoting high-level opening up to the outside world. KPMG Asia Pacific and China Chairman Tao Kuangchun stated that the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference demonstrate China's confidence and determination to fully promote high-quality development and further expand opening up. Global market participants are witnessing the surging momentum of the Chinese economy. "We are full of expectations for the broad prospects of China's big market." Li Yong, deputy representative of the Ministry of Commerce for international trade negotiations, said that at present, the national version of the negative list of restrictions on foreign investment access has been reduced to 29. The next step will continue to promote the expansion of comprehensive pilot opening of the service industry, promote the orderly opening of the Internet, culture and other fields, and expand the pilot opening of telecommunications, medical care, education and other fields. China, which is open and cooperative, is joining hands with the world to share opportunities and create a better future. We will uphold the cooperation concept of openness, integration, mutual benefit, and win-win, and work with friends from all countries to accelerate the cultivation and development of new quality productive forces, making new and greater contributions to fully unleashing development momentum, promoting global economic stability and growth, and enhancing human well-being Li Lecheng, Secretary of the Party Group of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said. (New Society)