The Global Trade and Investment Promotion Summit (GTIS) 2025, hosted by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), kicked off in Beijing on May 22 under the theme “Embracing the Era of Digital and Smart Technologies and Working Together towards Common Development.”

Dilma Rousseff, President of the New Development Bank and former President of Brazil, attended and addressed the opening ceremony. Speeches were also delivered by Ki-Chan Kim, Chair of the Board of the International Council for Small Business (ICSB); Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, Chair of the China-Britain Business Council (CBBC); and Xi Guohua, Chairman of the Board at the CITIC Group.

At the summit, Ren Hongbin, Chairman of the CCPIT, released the Beijing Initiative of the Global Trade and Investment Promotion Summit 2025 on behalf of the participating business communities. Formed through full communication and consultation with global business leaders that led to broad consensus, the initiative outlines six key proposals: (1) Building an innovative digital collaboration system to safeguard the security and stability of global industrial and supply chains; (2) Sharing the dividends of digital and innovative technologies to foster an open and fair innovation ecosystem; (3) Leveraging new advantages of the digital and smart era to promote liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment; (4) Promoting the application of digital and innovative technologies to empower green and low-carbon transition; (5) Advancing the healthy development of artificial intelligence to enhance the well-being of humanity; (6) Deepening global business cooperation to bolster sustainable global development.

The summit featured a plenary session on “Empowering Global Industrial and Supply Chains: Digital Intelligence for Security, Stability and Collaboration,” calling on global enterprises to deepen technological integration and collaborative innovation for a more efficient, secure, mutually beneficial supply chain system. Additionally, three parallel forums were held. Themed “Digital Intelligence Driving an Open and Fair Innovation Ecosystem,” the Parallel Forum I explored new pathways and models for innovation cooperation in the digital intelligence era. Under the theme of “Global Trade and Investment Cooperation in the Digital Intelligence Era,” the Parallel Forum II advocated the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits in global governance. With the theme of “Partnering with China to Bring More Opportunities,” the Parallel Forum III highlighted the new opportunities presented by the Chinese market and the potential for cooperation toward globalization. The participants engaged in in-depth discussions on these topics, offering valuable insights and pooling wisdom from Chinese and international business communities to address global development challenges, promote innovation and equity, and explore pathways for win-win cooperation. 

The summit attracted over 800 in-person attendees from 48 countries and regions, including government officials, representatives of trade promotion agencies, chambers of commerce and enterprises, as well as heads of foreign embassies in China and international organizations. Moreover, representatives of local and industrial sub-councils of the CCPIT, CCPIT Representative Offices overseas, and related enterprises attended virtually.