WEF to host Summer Davos in Tianjin after delay

This year's Annual Meeting of the New Champions of the World Economic Forum in Tianjin — which was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic — will unfold next summer in the city, the head of the World Economic Forum in China said.

The WEF is working with the National Development and Reform Commission to set a date for next year for what is widely known as Summer Davos, according to David Aikman, who is also the organization's managing director.

Aikman also noted that the WEF will stage the Winter Davos in Singapore in May. That event is normally held early each year in Switzerland.

The WEF is teaming up with the NDRC and foreign companies to hold a research meeting in Tianjin , after a visit to Dalian earlier this week. Dalian has hosted Summer Davos in a biennial rotation with Tianjin since 2007.

"The international companies want to better understand the national and local policies and contribute to the Chinese economy," Aikman said.

He lauded China as the driver of global recovery from the ongoing pandemic and praised Tianjin as a "beacon of the country's continued reform and opening-up and a model in the fourth industrial revolution".

Li Bin, an official of the NDRC's international collaboration department said the commission has with the WEF since October to help foreign companies conduct study tours in China's top foreign investment destinations.

He said the key to China's success is that the country took the global lead in luring foreign investment during the pandemic.

"The loosened policies for foreign investors since 2019, the lowered threshold for the services and agricultural sectors, the government's efforts in supporting foreign companies' business resumption amid the pandemic and the Chinese economy's strong resilience during the pandemic have cemented the confidence of foreign investors," Li said.

Chen Xiaohui, China president of Novozymes, said the company, which established a foothold in Tianjin 26 years ago, has been supported by the Tianjin government's solid commitment to business resumption during the early stages of the pandemic and has lifted the company's confidence in government partnerships.