The 37th high-level economic seminar for young overseas Chinese entrepreneurs was held in Xiamen and Beijing on Oct 28 – Nov 1, with 48 entrepreneurs and business heirs from 21 countries in attendance.
The intense program is designed to introduce overseas business leaders to China's overall conditions, traditional culture and corporate governance through five days of classroom sessions and field trips.
The seminar kicked off at Xiamen University in Xiamen, Fujian province on Oct 28, with the aim of building the overseas Chinese entrepreneurs' confidence to invest in China.
Xia Fudong, economy and technology department deputy of the State Council's Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, gave a speech at the opening ceremony of the seminar in Xiamen, saying that the expertise of overseas Chinese in corporate governance and fostering innovation could bring huge benefits to China's supply-side reforms.
Over the course of the next three days, the seminar attendees were given thorough introductions to China's monetary policies, the South China Sea issue, and China's firm stance on safeguarding the country's territorial integrity and traditional culture.
The attendees were also taken on site visits to the Xiamen free trade zone, Haicang district's cross-Straits incubator for the drone and robotics industries, and the start-up incubator Garage Café, as well as overseas Chinese-invested companies such as electric vehicle manufacturers Xiamen Fengtai Bus and Coach International and Meiya Pico, a digital forensics products provider that is listed on China's ChiNext board for emerging high-tech companies.
After the Xiamen part of the seminar concluded on Oct 30, the attendees moved to Beijing for another two-day program that included lessons on Internet finance, the Belt and Road Initiative, development opportunities under the "new normal" rate of growth in China's economy, and the application of Sun Tzu's classic work The Art of War in modern-day business strategy.
Professors from the prestigious Peking University, including Executive Vice-President Wu Zhipan, delivered these lectures.
The seminar's closing ceremony was attended by Wang Xiaoping, deputy director of the State Council’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, and Peking University Vice-President Li Yansong, along with Lin Zechun and Chao Yuqin, deputies from the overseas affairs offices of Fujian province and Xiamen respectively.
Addressing the closing ceremony, Wang expressed her hope that the attendees would take advantage of the great opportunities being created by China's Belt and Road Initiative to lead their businesses to success and forge potential friendships with their fellow attendees.
Since 2004, nearly 1,400 young entrepreneurs from overseas have participated in this annual seminar, with Xiamen, home to numerous overseas Chinese, hosting the event five years consecutively.
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