Foreign investors optimistic about Chinese market

Around 2-thousand policy makers, experts, and business leaders have attended this year's Summer Davos Forum in the city of Dalian.

Many of the attendees said that China's market will continue providing global investors with new opportunities.

Murat Sonmez, right, speaks to a reporter on the sidelines of the Summer Davos forum in Dalian. [Photo: China Plus]

It's the 13th time that the Summer Davos forum has been held in China.

A number of topics, including artificial intelligence and 5G technology, were discussed at the three-day event, which concluded on Wednesday.

Adrian Monck, the managing director of the World Economic Forum, says the event reflects the weight of China in global growth.

"China has become a major player in the world's economy. I think everyone looks now at China as being central to how the world moves forward. And I think the eyes of the world are around this country because its economy, its people. Its technology is so important to everyone’s future. All of us I think have an interest in seeing China be successful. And that is one of the things we’ll be talking about here at the meeting on how China’s success can help the world and how the world can help play a part in China's success."

Murat Sonmez is managing director of the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Global Network.

He said that he's worked with many Chinese experts and enterprises over the years, and has come to see that China's experience in poverty alleviation offers lessons for other countries.

"China plays a critical role in multiple dimensions. First of all, if you look at the population, it's a significant part of the population. And what China has achieved in the last decades, lifting people out of poverty into the middle class is an amazing role model. Yet there are new challenges: how do you continue to have an inclusive economy, how do you deal with the problem of wealth, congestion, and the environment. And these are new challenges that China hadn’t faced yet. And while it certainly has a capacity to formulate solutions, these are challenges that require global collaboration."

This year's Summer Davos was the first time that Abhniav Kumar has come to China. He's the chief global marketing officer at Tata Consultancy Services.

He says the visit has deepened his understanding about China's market.

"We've been operating our business in China for many years, growing in size and scale. We have seen how the economy has expanded and we are pleased to be part of that. The world sees China as a big opportunity, a big huge economic opportunity in the market. Look at the agenda these few days, a lot of focus on China. It's an important time because economically, you know, this is the day which half of the calendar year of the world. So it's interesting to hear about the state of the economy."

As head of programming at the World Economic Forum, Sebastian Buckup, travels back and forth between China and Switzerland.

He said China's market will keep moving forward and will take a leading role in innovation.

"So this is a train that has left the station. China is the second largest economy in the world and will keeping growing. It's not only the second largest economy in the world; it's also leader in many areas of innovation. It's a leader when it comes to renewable investment, and it's a leader when it comes to things such as artificial intelligence. But there are many things that are happening in China that the world needs to learn from.”

Official data shows that China's actual use of foreign capital reached 300 billion yuan in the first five months of the year. This represents a 6.8 increase on the same time last year, and shows that overseas investors continue to see China as a great place to invest.