The 26th China International Fair for Investment & Trade (CIFIT) was held in Xiamen, Fujian Province from September 8 to 11. More than 1,200 official government institutions and industrial and commercial delegations from 129 countries and regions and 30 international organizations attended the event. Amid a severe and complex external environment and mounting uncertainties for the world economy, more overseas businesspeople are setting their sights on China.

In September 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the 20th CIFIT, expressing the hope that the Fair would "serve as an important platform for a new round of high-level opening-up and play an active role in fostering a new landscape of all-round opening-up and building an open world economy." In September 2025, General Secretary Xi Jinping noted in his congratulatory letter to the 25th CIFIT: "With its permanent theme of 'Expanding Two-Way Investment and Jointly Promoting Global Development', the China International Fair for Investment & Trade has played an active role in advancing the building of an open world economy and become an effective platform for global investors to deepen practical cooperation."

The profound changes unseen in a century are accelerating, and the international landscape is volatile and intertwined. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping has advocated and steadfastly promoted the building of an open world economy, injecting greater certainty and positive energy into global development.

In September 2013, while attending the 8th G20 Leaders’ Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, he delivered an important speech entitled Working Together to Maintain and Develop an Open World Economy. He called on all parties to take a long-term perspective and foster a world economy featuring innovative development, interconnected growth and converging interests, and firmly uphold and develop an open world economy.

In November 2018, he attended the opening ceremony of the first China International Import Expo and delivered a keynote speech titled Building an Innovative, Inclusive and Open World Economy, stressing that China will not halt its pace in advancing the building of an open world economy.

In October 2022, in the report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, he stated that China will firmly pursue a mutually beneficial strategy of opening-up, continue to provide new opportunities for the world with its own new development, advance the building of an open world economy, and deliver greater benefits to people of all countries.

In November 2025, while hearing a work report on the development of Hainan Free Trade Port, he emphasized that the full island-wide customs closure of Hainan Free Trade Port marks a landmark move for China to unswervingly expand high-level opening-up and promote the building of an open world economy.

To advance the building of an open world economy, we must stay committed to opening-up and cooperation and jointly tackle challenges. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that China’s door to the outside world will not be closed; instead, it will open even wider. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, a host of measures have demonstrated China’s resolve to steadily advance high-level opening-up and foster an open world economy: promoting high-quality Belt and Road cooperation; fostering a new development paradigm to better connect domestic and international markets and make more effective use of both domestic and international markets and resources; aligning with high-standard international economic and trade rules to advance institutional opening-up; launching the world’s first national import-themed expo, the China International Import Expo; and pushing forward the customs closure operation of Hainan Free Trade Port.

To advance the building of an open world economy, we need to pursue inclusive growth and win-win results to boost common development. As a major contributor to and anchor of stability for world economic growth, China has consistently shared its development opportunities with the world. In Egypt, the China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone has brought massive investment and local jobs. Chinese enterprises have built Africa’s tallest skyscraper and Africa’s first intercity electrified light rail in Egypt. In recent years, more Chinese enterprises have gone global to lay out markets. Moving from "going global" to "taking root locally", they have settled in host countries and made positive contributions to local economic and social development and improved people’s wellbeing.

China’s development delivers more opportunities for the world. According to data released by the Ministry of Commerce, over 37,700 new foreign-invested enterprises were established in China in the first seven months of this year, and actual utilized foreign capital reached 438.33 billion yuan. Foreign investment in high-tech industries keeps rising, accounting for more than 40% of the increment in foreign capital. At this year’s CIFIT in Xiamen, clean energy, artificial intelligence, digital technology, biomedicine and other sectors have become hot areas for overseas merchants seeking cooperation in China.

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the proposal of the Global Development Initiative (GDI). By unswervingly advancing the building of an open world economy, China stands on the right side of history. The proposition that "we need opening-up, not isolation; cooperation, not confrontation; win-win results, not monopolistic gains" has won recognition from a growing number of countries. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, inclusive and mutually beneficial development is the broad path forward for humanity.

Source: Shanghai Securities News