The picture shows Mr. Francis Chua making an opening speech for the forum, as well as the opening ceremony and site of the forum.

The 2020 "Belt and Road" International Cooperation Forum was held in Shenzhen on December 20. At the opening ceremony, Executive vice Chairman Xu Lejiang of All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, President Gao Yan of CcPIT, Vice Governor Wang Xi of Guangdong Provincial People's Government, and President Song Zhiping of China Listed Companies Association delivered speeches respectively.

Mr. Francis Chua, Founding Chairman of PSRICC as well as SRCIC's Vice Chairman, was the introductory speaker and delivered a video address at the first Forum on "Leveraging our strengths to Help Global cooperation against COVID-19".

The Forum was convened under the theme of "work together to meet challenges to promote win-win cooperation", covering topics including "global disease resistant cooperation, promote the construction of human destiny community" and "promote the development of digital economy, to build digital silk road", "enhance the level of international cooperation and build a new development pattern", "to strengthen the international industry collaboration, Hong Kong and Macao to help big bay area construction" .

At the critical juncture of the global spread of COVID-19, Chinese listed companies have given full play to their industry advantages and actively participated in the international cooperation against COVID-19. Listed companies actively shared China's experience in fighting the epidemic, and discussed opening up the "lifeline" of global anti-epidemic materials, earnestly fulfilling corporate social responsibilities, promoting the resumption of overseas projects, and maintaining the stability of the global industrial chain.

Wang Yiwei, professor and doctoral supervisor of the School of International Relations and Director of the Institute of International Affairs of Renmin University of China, was another guest speaker at the first forum on "Leveraging our Own strengths to Boost Global cooperation against COVID-19".

Senior leaders from SINOtrans, Dalian Port Group, Robust Medical Supplies, Shenzhen Mindray Bio-medical Electronics, Sinomart International Engineering co., LTD., as well as the Ambassador of Pakistan and the Ambassador of Laos respectively made speeches and participated in the discussion.

Mr. Francis Chua said in the statement: "The world today is undergoing great changes unseen in a century. The ongoing serious epidemic has claimed millions of lives and has had a disastrous impact on the economic and social development of mankind. At present, the COVID-19 is still spreading globally and some countries are facing the second wave of threats. There is still a long way to go to stabilize our economy and protect our livelihood in the fight against the virus.

Novel Coronavirus is our common enemy. We should firmly grasp the premise and key of economic and social recovery, which is strengthen cooperation in epidemic prevention.

Therefore, we need to strengthen regional cooperation to promote post-epidemic recovery, promote the "One Belt And One Road" construction, and jointly create a better future for mankind.

We are very pleased to see that after the outbreak, the Chinese government has taken strong measures to contain the spread of the epidemic, unreservedly shared their experience in prevention, control and treatment, and provided assistance to other countries and international organizations. China's victory in the fight against the epidemic has given the world great confidence.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the Philippines, the Chinese government has provided several rounds of anti-epidemic assistance to the Philippines, and Chinese local governments and enterprises have also provided active anti-epidemic assistance to the Philippines. In addition, Chinese embassies and consulates in the Philippines, through local governments and Non-Governmental organizations, have provided "friendship packages" to those in need affected by the epidemic.

In the face of the challenge of the epidemic, the governments and peoples of the two countries have supervised and helped each other, worked together to build closer partnership and set an example for international cooperation against the epidemic. In the face of the post-epidemic "new normal" of the economy and society, the Philippines will work more closely with China and take advantage of market opening and innovation opportunities for common development.

First, there are huge market opportunities in China.

It is estimated that China will import more than $22 trillion of foreign goods in the next 10 years.

At the third China Import Expo, which ended last month, more than 40 Philippine companies signed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of export orders with Chinese importers, including tropical fruits, seafood and health food. China is the Philippines' largest trading partner and its largest export destination. The business communities of the two countries can make further use of such platforms as the China International Import Expo, the Canton Fair and the China-Asean Expo to expand bilateral economic and trade cooperation, jointly promote economic recovery and development of the two countries and better benefit their people.

Second, win-win opportunities for opening-up.

In the face of economic recovery after the epidemic, China and the Philippines have worked together to plan for future development, and steadily promoted the "One Belt And One Road" initiative and the "Build, Build, Build" to create new growth points for the Philippines' economic recovery. China-Philippines intergovernmental cooperation projects have been progressing smoothly on the whole, bringing hope for the Philippines' economic recovery.

To date, the two countries have completed 11 inter-governmental cooperation projects covering drug control, counter-terrorism, food security, radio and television services and other fields. Six projects are being implemented and 18 are being planned, relating to infrastructure such as roads and railways, flood control and irrigation, and other livelihood projects.

With the transformation and upgrading of China's economy, more and more Chinese companies are going overseas. The Philippines is a neighbor of China and an important member of the China-Asean Free Trade Area and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement. It could definitely be a hot spot for Chinese companies to invest. In recent years, according to reports from the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines, many Chinese companies have invested in the Philippines.

China Telecom will invest at least $5 billion in Dito Telecom. Hebei Iron and Steel Group of China invested us $4.4 billion to build a large steel enterprise and supporting port in Cajayan de Oro on Mindanao island. Panghua group, another steelmaker, plans to invest $3.5 billion to build an integrated steel mill in General Santos in The city of General Santos in Mindanao. These two projects alone will create tens of thousands of jobs in the Philippines, effectively contributing to the country's economic recovery and helping the Philippines enter the ranks of middle - and high-income economies early.

Third, innovation opportunities that complement each other's strengths.

The epidemic has spawned new business models, including 5G Internet applications, remote online education and artificial intelligence, which have changed the way people live and produce.China and the Philippines share common advantages in the above areas and can actively promote cooperation.

The Philippines has a large young population and high social media penetration. Digital economy, such as e-commerce and financial technology, has entered the stage of rapid development and has good prospects for development. Indeed, in recent years, large Chinese Internet companies such as Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu and Toutiao have begun to deploy in the Philippine market. China's 51Talk 51Talk English online education company has made full use of human resources in the Philippines, employing more than 20,000 Filipino English teachers to teach Chinese students online, and will recruit another 30,000 Filipino English teachers in the future.

China has drawn up a blueprint for the next 15 to 30 years, and the Philippines has put forward a "2040 vision". The Philippines and China are seizing the opportunity, following the trend, consolidating and developing bilateral relations and jointly creating a better future for our two countries and Asia.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the International Chamber of Commerce of the Philippine Silk Road International Chamber of Commerce will do their best to bridge the gap and assist Chinese companies to invest and set up factories in the Philippines. We will also provide relevant advice and assistance to Chinese companies."

Later in the forum, the China-Africa Development Fund, Pakistan's ambassador to Guangzhou Consulate, Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China, Sun Yat-sen University and other colleges and universities and research institutions, sinotrans, the Shanghai stock exchange, Shenzhen stock exchange, Guosen securities, CICA group, Standard Chartered Bank, head of the listed company at the conference speech and communicate, about the practice participated in the construction of "B&R", for the epidemic prevention and control, give their valuable advice for "B&R" goes deep and solid under the post-epidemic.

The forum was hosted by China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, Guangdong Provincial People's Government and World Trade Centers, and hosted by Shenzhen Municipal People's Government, Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Guangdong Council for the Promotion of International Trade and Guangdong Province Federation of Industry and Commerce.

More than 400 representatives from government departments, business communities, professional institutions and enterprises from countries and regions along the "One Belt And One Road" participated in the offline forum, and more than 100 guests participated in the online forum.

Editor/Linguister: Stephanie Tan

Source: PSRICC