Chengdu Finance Week, co-hosted by Chengdu Municipal Local Financial Regulation Bureau and Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone Administration Committee, and organized by China Innovation Finance Institute, was officially opened on November 19, 2023 in Chengdu. Guests from government departments, regulatory authorities, embassies and consulates, business associations, financial institutions, international organizations, and research think tanks from China, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain attended the opening ceremony.
This Chengdu Finance Week, with the theme of “Finance Empowers Sustainable Innovation, Investment Advances Inclusive Growth”, focusing on the construction of the Western Financial Centre and the enhancement of the Belt and Road Initiative financial services, will conduct activities including financial innovation communications, international cross-border investment and financing docking and other events. It will facilitate the collaboration of several significant cross-border investment and financing projects, as well as promoting practical and in-depth cooperation between Chengdu and a number of international financial centres of the Belt and Road Initiative in Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia.
The events will be carried out online and offline. In addition to the opening ceremony, there will be closed-door forums on sovereign wealth funds, Gulf innovation investment, development finance, RMB internationalization cooperation, and the development of international financial centres. Six national days will also be organized including Luxembourg Day, Saudi Arabia Day, Qatar Day, etc. It will also hold “JIAOZI Business Book of the Year” and “Reading Day of JIAOZI Business Book” and launch several in-depth academic research reports, including Rise Beyond Wealth: Global Sovereign Wealth Funds and Sustainable Growth: International Financial Centres and The ESG Investment. The total events will last more than 2 months, which is the first international event organized in the form of “Finance Week” in western China.
At the opening ceremony of the Financial Week, international guests H.E. Mr. Renat Bekturov, the Governor of Astana International Financial Centre; H.E. Mr. Roland Reiland, the Ambassador of Luxembourg to China; H.E. Mr. Mohamed Ghassan Mohamed Adnan Shaikho, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to China; H.E. Mr. Barnabás Virág, the Deputy Governor of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank; H.E. Ms. Julie Becker, the CEO of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and H.E. Mr. Andreas Glänzel, the Managing Director of Frankfurt Main Finance made addresses and keynote speeches centering around the evolution of the global financial innovation landscape, discussing the direction of financial service cooperation along the Belt and Road Initiative. The ceremony explored collaborative win-win scenarios and the pivotal role of financial innovation in fostering sustainable and inclusive growth.
On the opening day, a number of achievements in the construction of western financial centre and cross-border investment and financing were displayed. CIDP (Cross-Border Investment & Financing Digital Platform), X-Nexus (An Empowerment Platform for Stock Exchanges to China) and CDIEC (Chengdu Centre for International Economic Cooperation) were launched. Chengdu Municipal Local Financial Regulation Bureau and Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone Administration Committee signed strategic cooperation agreements with Astana International Financial Centre Authority and Astana International Exchange respectively, and China Innovation Finance Institute and Frankfurt Main Finance established a long-term partnership.
The host said, “Chengdu Finance Week is held to enhance the openness and internationalization of Chengdu’s Western Financial Centre, and to foster cross-border exchanges and cooperation in financial innovation. We look forward to constructing a platform for discussing the future of financial development and promoting international economic and trade cooperation through the Chengdu Finance Week. This will help Chengdu establish a more distinct presence on the international financial stage and provide stronger momentum for the construction of the Western Financial Centre in the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle.”
In recent years, Chengdu has made remarkable achievements in promoting the construction of its financial centre. In the period from January to September 2023, the added value of Chengdu’s financial industry reached 197.4 billion yuan, accounting for 12.3% of GDP. In the latest edition of the City of London’s Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI), Chengdu ranked 44th among global financial centres and 6th in China.
