At a press conference held on September 16 on enhancing Beijing's capacities as the center for international exchanges, Li Yi, deputy mayor of Xicheng District, said that the 2021 Financial Street Forum would highlight its international element on top of last year's high level and high standard. The proportion of foreign guests will be greatly increased and is expected to reach 50%.

Li Yi said that Xicheng District has always taken serving important state events as a primary task of strengthening Beijing's role as the center for international exchanges. In recent years, the District has provided high-quality services and support to important state events such as the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, the 2019 Beijing International Horticultural Exhibition, the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilization, and Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. At the same time, it has capitalized on the special location advantages and rich cultural, educational, and financial resources to receive Party and state guests with high quality services.

Looking ahead, Xicheng District will devote itself to building a 4S system, i.e., services to important state events, surroundings with neighborhood renewal and improvement needed for international exchanges, supplies of resources characterized by its financial culture and standardized service process. It will focus on creating "two lines" and "one belt" to carry out the major functions of the center for international exchanges, make plans for new infrastructure, scenarios and services, and make strong multiple moves to create a core functional area for active international exchanges, exceptional internationalized services, and international influence.

Since 2020, the Financial Street Forum has been officially upgraded to a national-level and international professional forum with the largest scale and highest level participation among domestic professional financial forums. In addition to the annual conference, the Financial Street Forum has continuously held parallel forums and salons throughout the year, forming a framework of "one main forum, several parallel forums and multi-thematic salons," which has been formally incorporated into Beijing's strategic plan of "two zones" and "three forums." It has become an important platform and a professional brand for Beijing's high-quality development and opening-up. 

The Annual Conference of the 2021 Financial Street Forum will highlight the development of international cooperation in its agenda

"The proportion of international topics in the annual conference of this year's forum reaches 90%. And a parallel forum on two-way opening-up and financial cooperation is planned, creating a diplomatic space for the financial field in the Financial Street." Li Yi said that the annual conference of the forum has many topics such as the Belt and Road cooperation, international cooperation in green finance, regional economic integration, and cross-border capital flows to discuss hot global economic and financial topics and international cooperation.

At the same time, the annual conference of this forum will greatly increase the percentage of foreign guests. It is said that the organizers have reached out to foreign guests intensively. By now, nearly 100 people have responded actively, and the proportion of foreign speakers is expected to reach 50%. Foreign guests include former or current international dignitaries, government officials, officials of international organizations, senior executives of international institutions, and world-renowned experts and scholars.

(Reporter: Chen Xuening)