H.E. Marc Hübsch
Ambassador, Embassy of Luxembourg to China, Mongolia and Pakistan
Green finance will continue to play a proactive role as an important tool to achieve comprehensive financial transitions. More climate-related financial products will be developed; corporate environmental disclosure especially carbon disclosure will be improved; green financial standards will hopefully be further harmonized in order to use similar catalogues to mobilize green loans, green bonds and green funds; incentive and punishment policies and pilot zones will be further enhanced; academic interest in ESG research will be increased; public health and medical services will attract more investment from public and private actors.
Both public and private actors are called to participate at the forefront of international initiatives in order to lead multilateral and public-private dialogue, and to raise awareness and support education at all levels.
Public sectors should set a clear vision and create consensus around it; acknowledge international commitments and identify national priorities for implementing them; assure continuity and participation at national level; provide a credible, reliable, predictable, and stable regulatory framework; ensure proof of concept and de-risking of innovative and more risky ideas and projects; create incentive-based models; lead by example and support new markets; reduce costs of transactions.
Private sectors should identify market needs and gaps and develop innovative ideas; grow tested models; develop and manage actors who serve as aggregators; serve as a relay between retail investors and the real economy.
H.E. Thomas Stähli
Minister, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Switzerland to China
Using the three key thrusts “innovative”, “interconnected” and “sustainable”, 9 concrete areas of action for a future-proof Swiss financial Center have been defined. Those areas include efforts to increase the price transparency for investments, ensure resilience, strengthen competitiveness, improve exportability, and shape international system design.
The pressing necessity to shift to a more sustainable economy also led the Swiss government to announce concrete measures in terms of sustainable finance with a clear objective to create framework conditions that support the competitiveness of the Swiss financial center and help to effectively contribute to implementing UN’s 2030 Agenda.
In March 2021, leaders of China and Switzerland agreed upon a working plan, which will help to enhance the bilateral financial market cooperation. The focus will be set on the establishment of a Stock market cooperation between Zurich, Shanghai and Shenzhen, exchanges among the central banks regarding digital currency, cooperation in bank and wealth management as well as in insurance and reinsurance. In all those areas, we see considerable potential.
Switzerland is following China’s opening up measures very closely and appreciates all measures taken over the past years. It’s unquestionable that these efforts will benefit China: international firms have significant global expertise in the financial markets, and their increased participation will help develop the Chinese market, raise market standards, and further introduce international best practices.
H.E. Ali Obaid Al Dhaheri
Ambassador, Embassy of UAE to China
The economic transformation that has taken place in UAE and China has been enabled by capital, which has provided for giant strides in advancement. The two countries would find increasingly more opportunities for bilateral cooperation across many sectors, particularly in the investment and finance industries. The UEA has been the supporter and advocator of the Belt and Road Initiative and has actively participated in many events under the imitative. The UAE aims to expand to be the financial and investment hub in MENA under the Belt and Road Initiative, supporting major institutions and projects of both countries.
This year, CIFTIS has evolved into an open, inclusive and diversified fair, supporting trade liberalization and economic globalization in a sustainable way. Both UAE and China have benefited greatly from open, globalized trade. China has called for accelerating international cooperation digital sector, stepping up intellectual property protection, and facilitating the vibrant growth of the digital economy and sharing economy. The UAE government and relevant financial institutions are willing to work with China in these areas.
The cooperation between UAE and China have been benefited from the advanced infrastructure of the two countries. The UAE and China have enjoyed substantial development in science, technology, artificial intelligence and many other sectors. As China continues to open up its financial and service industries in the future, the cooperation between China and UAE in finance-supported technology, medicine and artificial intelligence will also continue to expand.
H.E. Rahul Ahluwalia
Minister-Counsellor, Director for Financial & Professional Services, British Embassy to China
There is huge potential for the UK and China to work together to make financial services greener and more open – and I see it as my personal mision to fulfill this ambitious mandate over the next few years and harness the immense opportunities that we can only realize by working together. “Green” and “Open” are important themes for both our countries and perfectly aligned with this ambition for close UK-China cooperation.
In green finance, we see actors across China’s financial sector striving to drive forwards to provide financial support for the carbon transition of the economy, whether it be through the issuance of bonds targeted at financing sustainable projects, or continued international collaboration to develop international standards. Green and openness are not the only commitments for UK financial services. Deepening our relationship with China, whether it be across these areas, or in financial technology, in capital markets, in insurance, or in the pensions industries, is also of significant importance. Given China’s priorities for its financial sector, we believe that collaboration across all these areas would be of mutual benefit for both countries.
In opening up, China continues to cover extraordinary ground whilst maintaining a prudent approach. Within this, we continue to see a long-standing UK-China relationship, whether it be from the increasing participation of UK asset managers in China’s markets or the landmark Shanghai-London Stock Connect that has already served as a channel for Chinese companies to raise more than £5 billion from international investors. Looking forwards, particularly as we strive to address the global pandemic and the challenges in shifting towards a greener global economy, I believe we should continue the cooperation between our two countries. I believe that this will be especially true in green financial services and in open financial services, both of which are areas of significant importance and offer many opportunities for collaboration.
H.E. Fabrizio Costa
Economic and Financial Counsellor, Embassy of Italy to China, Senior Director, Ministry of Economic and Finance of Italy
We are looking forward to greater market access, increasing opportunities to diversify Chinese investment by allowing greater market access for Italian financial institutions in China, as well as expanding opportunities for Chinese financial institutions to establish in Italy and invest in the European market.
Strengthen co-financing of infrastructure. The objective would be to establish deeper connections between Italy and China’s capital markets which will boost the efficiency of both markets and to encourage greater collaboration to support co-financing of infrastructure in third markets, including along the Belt & Road.
Increase collaboration in the area of pension system, specifically regarding services and support from Italy to the development of China’s private pensions market.
Increase FinTech collaboration, an area on which China has a lot of expertise and capacity to promote the establishment and expansion of Italian and Chinese firms in each other’s markets, and to help enhance financial infrastructures, increase business access to finance, and promote financial inclusion.
Work together to develop and to grow a green finance market. In this area, under this year Italian Presidency of G20, with the active support of China, G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group has been established, which will work to identify solutions to financing the green transition. China and Italy are doing a great job in pushing forward an ambitious global agenda for sustainable finance.
