The Eighth Sino-European Entrepreneurs Summit (SEES) will be held in London June 13-15, the Southern Weekly reported on Tuesday.
The summit will bring together more than 500 politicians, business leaders, experts and scholars for in-depth discussion on a wide range of issues, such as finance, industrial development, science and technology, sports and cultural undertakings, and focusing on promoting Sino-European cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.
This year's meeting will be co-chaired by former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, now UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Jean Pierre Raffarin, former French Prime Minister and President of the Prospect and Innovation Fund, and Long Yongtu, former Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation and former Secretary General of the Boao Forum for Asia.
The theme of SEES 2007 is promoting dynamism in Sino-European trade and investment and achieving equitable, inclusive and sustainable economic growth through new growth engines.
The SEES has successfully held seven sessions in London and Paris since 2008 to help Chinese enterprises "go global" and has gradually developed into a vital platform for Chinese and European entrepreneurs to expand contacts, and build mutual trust and cooperation.
The summit aims to help business leaders on both sides be more aware of the bilateral political, economic and market landscape to better develop international business strategies.
Currently, the Chinese economy is challenged by overcapacity, structural adjustment, transformation and upgrading, while the European economy remains in a "window period" where businesses are in dire need of capital and market expansion despite of their innovative technology and independent brands. That makes China and Europe two highly complementary partners and it is considered imperative to innovate and further develop their cooperation.
SEES 2017 will see the largest-ever Chinese business delegation in terms of level and scale of participation since Britain announced its plan to withdraw from the EU, known as Brexit; therefore, it has gained strong support from the British government, multinational companies and key media outlets, who will work together to build a platform for Chinese businesses to gain an insight of the post-Brexit sustainable growth dynamism and new investment opportunities in Britain.
Through forums, exhibitions, interactions and project matchmaking events, the summit is designed to present a wide range of investment and cooperation opportunities for governments, entrepreneurs and institutional investors through major projects in finance, culture, innovation, sophisticated equipment manufacturing, pharmaceutical and biotechnology that are highly sought after by Chinese businesses.
The summit this year will coincide with the London Tech Week, during which a selection of creative, high-tech and innovative ideas from 75 countries are scheduled to be presented. As the largest innovative city in Europe, London is home to an estimated 43 technology giants. SEES 2017 and the London Tech Week will work together to explore new approaches in expediting technology transfers between China and Europe, joint R&D efforts and introducing cutting-edge technology.
Dong Bin, president of the summit's organizing committee, said that, as a crucial platform for Sino-European bilateral economic and trade partnership, the 10-year-old event has hosted more than 3,500 distinguished guests and witnessed nearly 10 billion yuan (about US$1.5 billion) worth of projects successfully initiated by both sides so far.
"The summit aspires to carry forward its commitment to further promote partnership between Chinese and European entrepreneurs with a more pragmatic cooperation in trade, investment finance, high-tech and culture," Dong said.
