Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng hosted Citigroup and Carlyle Group’s top executives in Beijing on Friday, assuring China’s determination to woo investment from the United States despite current tensions in the country’s trade relations with Washington.
As state-owned Xinhua News Agency reports, He reiterated that the Chinese economy is maintaining a good recovery and stated that foreign investment still lies at the heart of the nation’s development strategy. “China will continue to broaden its high-level opening up to the world, providing wide room for long-term and stable development of multinationals,” He said.
Citigroup Chairman John Dugan communicated the bank’s desire to increase its penetration into the Chinese market, and Carlyle Group CEO Harvey Schwartz indicated preparedness for long-term cooperation with China. Carlyle has for a long time been one of the most engaged foreign private equity players in the nation.
The sessions were held amid an environment of ongoing trade tensions between the US and China, in spite of recent measures to reverse most tariffs and postpone others for 90 days. He Lifeng himself spearheaded these negotiations.
He has also recently met with similar US corporate executives, such as Apple, Nvidia, and JPMorgan Chase CEOs, all of which emphasized Beijing’s ongoing efforts to reassure foreign investors of its economic openness.
China’s financial regulators also committed to further liberalize markets, streamlining approval procedures for foreign institutional investors and marketing Hong Kong as a leading global financial center. The China Securities Regulatory Commission stated that it intends to persuade foreign companies to apply for securities and advisory licenses and facilitate the launch of yuan-denominated investment funds.
Citigroup, which initially set up shop in Hong Kong in 1902, just unveiled plans to increase its consumer wealth business in the city by over 10% this year, betting on healthy growth in Asian wealth in the next 10 years.
