BEIJING, Oct. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — The Annual Conference of the Financial Street Forum (FSF) concluded in Beijing on Thursday, attracting guests from more than 30 countries and regions and reaching more than 100 outcomes, providing fresh momentum for China’s high-quality development while offering a platform for international communications in the financial area, according to officials and guests at the forum.
The discussions at the four-day event themed “Global Financial Development in an Era of Innovation, Transformation and Restructuring” covered a wide range of topics including financial support for innovation and for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and enabling the high-quality development of the private economy.
During the forum, officials from the nation’s monetary and financial authorities, including the People’s Bank of China, the National Financial Regulatory Administration, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission, unveiled the work priorities of their departments for the years to come.
This year, the forum held a record five overseas sub-venues across Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America. Participants included heads of major international financial organizations and senior executives from leading global institutions, as well as guests from countries along the Belt and Road Initiative and the Global South, and representatives of international business associations and foreign diplomats stationed in China, according to the organizer.
“It’s a great honor to be invited and to hear directly from distinguished speakers and experts about the latest policies and developments shaping China’s financial sector,” David Perez-Des Rosiers, chief representative of the Canada China Business Council Beijing, who attended the forum for the first time, told the Global Times on Thursday.
“The discussions have been very insightful and provided valuable context for international partners like us,” said Perez-Des Rosiers.
A sub-venue of the FSF was held in the Spanish capital Madrid on Tuesday (local time) under the theme of “Forging New China-Europe Ties: Synergies for Solutions.” It was the first time that the FSF set up a sub-venue in Spain.
Jack Perry Junior, chairman of the 48 Group Club and CEO of London Export Corp, who also attended the FSF, told the Global Times that China and the EU need mutual trust and cooperation.
In retrospection of the history of Icebreaking Mission between China and Britain by his family, he said that a new generation of entrepreneurs should contribute to the building of more in-depth and innovative China-EU partnership.
In 1954, Jack Perry, the founder of London Export Corporation, led a group of 48 British businessmen on a historic trade mission to Beijing and helped deliver one of the first modern-day trade links with China. The 48 men were the precursors of the 48 Group Club. The trip became known as the “Icebreaking Mission,” according to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
During the forum, the high-quality development of China’s economy during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30) also drew much attention. At a parallel forum on “Financial Innovation Empowering the High-Quality Development of the Private Economy” on Tuesday, Xing Ziqiang, chief China economist at Morgan Stanley, told the Global Times that China’s stepped-up policy support, domestic enterprises’ focus on innovation and a growing inflow of foreign capital are further consolidating market confidence.
The Export-Import Bank of China on Wednesday signed multiple cooperation agreements with international financial institutions as well as domestic and foreign enterprises at a parallel forum during the Annual Conference of Financial Street Forum 2025, as financial cooperation is increasingly being deepened among partner countries and international organizations for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.
With a sub-venue set in Hong Kong, the international financial hub also gained much attention during the forum. In a video speech at the closing ceremony, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said that as an international financial center, Hong Kong will continue to play its dual role as “super connector” and “super value-adder,” pursuing reform and innovation with determination to make great contributions to the country’s high-quality development.
The fourth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China noted that we should build a modernized industrial system and reinforce the foundations of the real economy.
“This underscores the key mission of the financial industry during the 15th Five-Year Plan period,” Wan Zhe, an economist and professor at the Belt and Road School of Beijing Normal University, told the Global Times on Thursday.
Through the FSF, we can see that the financial departments are working to enhance the adaptability of the financial industry and strengthen its role in serving the real economy by improving the monetary and financial environment, improving traditional industries, and cultivating emerging and future industries with greater financial resources, Wan said.
“Overall, high-quality financial development will provide crucial momentum for achieving socioeconomic goals during the 15th Five-Year Plan period,” she said.