By Ada Wang

On December 15， 2021， the 2021 China Overseas Investment Fair and Country and Regional Investment Cooperation Promotion Meeting”was held both online and offline by the China Overseas Development Association. The meeting was chaired by Yang Lei， Deputy Director of Institute of Energy， Peking University. Foreign ambassadors， Invest HK and corporate representatives made promoted and communicated about international investment with the target of carbon peak and neutrality.

Focus of International Society

He Zhenwei， Chairman of the China Overseas Development Association， said in the speech that the COVID-19 pandemic is still spreading， and that global economic recovery was proving very difficult. Facing the big changes in the world， carbon neutrality and carbon peak have undoubtedly become the focus of the international community. Since Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the double carbon targets to the world， China has been sticking to the new development concept， regarding the highquality development as the target and issuing a series of policy measures to accelerate green and low-carbon development and build a development pattern of dual circulation. At the same time， China has actively participated in global environmental governance and fulfilled its international responsibilities and obligations. Having focused on the double carbon strategic goal and investment industries， China has strengthened comprehensive cooperation in green infrastructure， green energy， green finance and other fields， and created new opportunities for the advancement of mutually beneficial investment and development， connectivity and win-win results among countries and regions.

？Wu Hongzhi， Investment Promotion Director of InvestHK， delivered a keynote speech entitled “seizing new investment opportunities and expanding new overseas businesses”， saying that the outline of the 14th Five-Year plan has confirmed Hong Kong’s important role and function in China’s overall development， and provided new development spaces and opportunities in many important areas. Hong Kong will consolidate and enhance its competitive advantages from two aspects： on the one hand， Hong Kong will continue to promote the construction of four traditional centers； on the other hand， it will build four emerging centers， namely， the international financial center， the international shipping center， the international trade center and the international legal dispute resolution service center of the Asia Pacific region. Hong Kong will deeply engage in both domestic and international circulation and take advantage of its close connections with the mainland and international markets， to make more contributions to China’s economic development and opening to the outside world.

Strong willingness to work with China

Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz Alajlan， Vice Chairman of Ajlan & Bros Group and Chairman of the Saudi-China Business Council， said that Saudi Arabia is a major energy producer and China is a major energy consumer. As member states of G20， both countries have been deeply committed to developing clean and renewable energy and actively promoting international cooperation in related fields. China and Saudi Arabia have made frequent exchanges on green development in recent years， setting a good example for the international community to jointly promote green and low-carbon development and deal with the global issues and challenges facing mankind.

Joseph Timore， Minister Counsellor （economy） of the South African Embassy in China， introduced South Africa’s regional advantages， resource endowment， economic structure and investment environment. He said that recently， the South African government has issued a plan for economic reconstruction and recovery， and put forward a series of economic stimulus measures such as increasing investment in infrastructure construction and accelerating the process of re-industrialization. South Africa is open to the development of new energy and renewable energy. It has been promoting the energy transition and hopes to increase the proportion of green energy to 40% by 2030. In 2021， the free trade zone of the African continent would officially start operation. As the model of economic and trade relations between China and Africa， the bilateral economic and trade cooperation between China and South Africa is expected to meet new growth opportunities. At present， more than 600 Chinese companies have invested in South Africa， which hopes to attract more Chinese businesses to invest in the construction and development of South Africa.

Ximena Chacón， Minister Counsellor of the Embassy of Costa Rica in China， said that Costa Rica plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. As the 38th member country to join the OECD， Costa Rica wishes to become a global leader in environmental policy， believing that economic development and environmental sustainability can be achieved at the same time.

Jo？o Falardo， Minister Counsellor of the embassy of Portugal in China， shared Portugal’s policies. Since December 1， 2021， Portugal had officially become a zero-coal country， making it the fourth country of the EU to stop using coal for power generation. At the moment about 60-70% of Portugal’s electricity comes from renewable energy. Portugal hopes that Chinese investors shall focus on investment opportunities in renewable energy， fibre optics， construction， medical treatment， insurance， banking， services， fisheries， water resources management and other sectors.

Zhang Shijun， the Deputy Director of Two-way Investment Department of the ChinaSCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area Management Commission， said that in order to effectively open up the twoway financial investment channel， an industrial fund containing approximately RMB 20 billion has been set up in the demonstration zone of Qingdao， Shandong Province. The scale of the China-Russia energy fund is RMB 10 billion. Also， the first QDLP （qualified domestic limited partner） fund was set up in Qingdao， enabling qualified investors to invest in overseas primary and secondary markets， and facilitating the outbound investment of domestic institutions. Next， the demonstration zone will further innovate the mechanism and launch key and demonstrative reform measures with influence in the country.

Yang Qimei， Vice President of Bureau Veritas， said that as a third-party service company， Bureau Veritas will further empower China’s outbound investment cooperation and support the achievement of double carbon target.

Zhang Haiping， Senior Vice President of Fujian Ningde Zhixiang Limited Technology Co.， Ltd.， said that being green was a key characteristic of Hello travel. Following the concept of greenness， low carbon and convenient travelling， the Hello bike， Hello boosting bikes， Hello battery charges and Hello electrical bicycles have been launched one by one. As a leader in bike transportation， Hello travel hopes to work with all parties to promote its shared bike， battery changing and electrical bike business to the world.

At the forum， representatives of embassies and relevant institutions from Egypt， Belgium， Italy and other countries introduced the investment environment and policies of their countries， and generally expressed their best wishes to enjoy economic and trade cooperation with China.