2020 Beijing CBD Forum opened with a grand ceremony at Asia Financial Center on the afternoon of September 6. At the forum, Boosting the Attractiveness of Global CBDs White Paper V2.0 was released, and the top 20 High-Tech and High-Growth Rising Stars in Chaoyang District was also announced. 

As a specialized forum under the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), the forum this year aims to guide Beijing CBD towards higher-quality development under the theme of “pursuing greater synergy of international elements toward a world-leading CBD.” The Forum was attended by Wang Bingnan, Vice Minister of Commerce, Yang Jinbai, Vice Mayor of Beijing, Wang Hao, Secretary of the CPC Chaoyang District Committee, and Wen Xian, District Mayor of Chaoyang. The Forum also brought together pundits from political, industrial, financial, academic and service communities to discuss the future development of Beijing CBD. The forum was hosted by Beijing CBD Administration Committee and jointly organized by Beijing International CBD Ecological Alliance, Global Business Districts Innovation Club and China CBD Alliance, with intellectual support from Deloitte China.

The white paper released at the forum aims to help CBDs improve their stocks and enhance incremental capacity so that they can have greater resilience and attractiveness in the new era. A new concept—dual circulation—was introduced in the white paper. Specifically, it is about two circles: the inner circle composed of industrial enterprises, financial institutions, research institutes and various business service providers within a CBD, and the outer circle consists of four types of international entities related to a CBD, i.e. other first-class CBDs, chambers of commerce of major countries, international organizations and international research institutes.

This year's list of top 20 High-Tech and High-Growth Rising Stars in Chaoyang District was announced at the forum for the second time as results of an evaluation of enterprises in terms of their valuation, founding team, technological innovations and ranking in the industry, recognizing outstanding and fast-growing enterprises with high development potentials. Enterprises on the list are mainly technology companies specializing in artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing, including those engaged in new infrastructure-related industries, such as autonomous driving, Internet of vehicles (IoV), and Internet of Things (IoT). This list attests to the strong development momentum of enterprises in Chaoyang District for innovation-driven growth.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak worldwide, the forum was held online, with the largest number of foreign speakers the event had ever seen. Through “cloud dialogues”, guests from around the world discussed topics ranging from how businesses should build their global presence to strategic plans for development in China. The forum is indeed an international, high-level and interactive platform as it is meant to be.

Beijing CBD, emerging from the global outbreak of COVID-19 and the growing downward pressure on the global economy, played a more prominent role as a window of Beijing towards the outside world and a stabilizer of the economic conditions of the capital city. In the 2020 Attractiveness of Global Business Districts Report released in May, Beijing CBD jumped to the 7th place from the 9th in 2017, standing proudly as the top-ranking CBD of China once again and performing better on the international arena.

In the first half of 2020, the Beijing CBD functional area paid more than 60 billion yuan of tax and achieved 14 billion yuan of revenues at the district level, accounting for over 50 percent of the district's total. The revenues and profits of the tertiary industry accounted for 60 percent and 70 percent of the district's total respectively, demonstrating high-quality development of the economy. According to the chief of Beijing CBD Administration Committee, with a history of 21 years, CBD Forum witnessed fast development of Beijing CBD over the years; Beijing would seize the opportunity of building a national integrated demonstration zone for greater openness in the services sector and a pilot free trade zone, build on its past achievements, go all out to build a first-class international CBD and to create a high ground for Beijing's opening up to the outside world.