On April 25, the China International Youth Exchange Center (CIYEC) held the International Cooperation and Development Conference for Young Entrepreneurs with the theme on "Revitalizing Growth, Win-Win Cooperation" in Beijing.

Fu Zhenbang, Vice-chairman of the All-China Youth Federation, addressed the opening ceremony of the conference.

Some 200 business leaders, heads of economic institutions as well as young entrepreneurs from over 40 countries had in-depth discussions on topics such as the new path to the global economic recovery, the stability of industrial and supply chains, multilateral cooperation, mutual benefits and win-win cooperation, and deepening cooperation among young entrepreneurs from ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea.

The establishment of the International Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs Associations is announced at the International Cooperation and Development Conference for Young Entrepreneurs on April 25, 2023.

Former and incumbent officials such as Jean-Pierre Raffarin, former prime minister of France; Goran Durovic, Minister of Economic Development and Tourism of Montenegro; Bulgantuya Khurelbaatar，Minister for Labour and Social Protection of Mongolia and Member of Parliament of Mongolia; YB Datuk Ir. Dr. Wee Ka Soong, former minister of transport Malaysia; Sajid Hussain Turi, Federal Minister of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development of Pakistan; and Shi Zhongjun, Secretary-general of the ASEAN-China Centre, as well as other heads of institutions worldwide sent congratulatory letters to the conference. They expressed their hope that young entrepreneurs deepen exchanges and cooperation in the post-COVID-19 era, in a bid to jointly promote global economic development.

Fu Zhenbang, also Secretary of the Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Youth League Central Committee, said that young entrepreneurs are important forces behind social and global economic development, adding that they shoulder great responsibilities in promoting economic recovery and stabilizing global industrial and supply chains, and should make more effort in building consensus toward opening-up and adhering to the right direction of economic globalization.

Young entrepreneurs need to uphold innovation-driven development to inject impetus into the world economic growth, and fully implement free trade concept to ensure the safety and smooth operation of industrial and supply chains, according to Fu. He also urged them to tackle climate change to promote green and sustainable development, and deepen international cooperation to consolidate global economic governance.

Zhu Hongren, Executive Vice Chairman & Director General of the China Enterprise Confederation; Tom Luckock, Deputy Chair of the China-Australia Chamber of Commerce; Abhishek Kumar, President of the Entrepreneurs Association of India, and Yu Tengqun, Chairman of the ICC Belt and Road Commission called on young entrepreneurs to continuously boost confidence in economic recovery, strengthen cooperation and communication, and add youthful energy to global economic governance in their addresses.

Qi Bin, Vice President of China Investment Corporation; Luis Rubio, President of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in China; and Tan Chee Hiong, Chairman of the Malaysia Mandarin Youth Entrepreneurs Association, delivered keynote speeches on such topics as the development of the global economy, the Belt and Road cooperation and China-Europe cooperation.

An opinion poll was held during the conference, where nearly 60 percent of the respondents were optimistic about the global economic recovery, and more than 30 percent thought that the AI industry has the most potential for growth. Respondents generally believed that technological innovation and new multilateral trade agreement will be the main driving force behind global economic growth in 2023. In addition, most attendants at the conference agreed that China will have the best investment outcome in 2023.

During the opening ceremony, the CIYEC, along with other youth entrepreneur organizations from 33 countries, announced the establishment of the International Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs Associations, a new platform for international cooperation. 

The Beijing Declaration on International Cooperation for Youth Entrepreneurs was also passed at the conference, calling on young entrepreneurs to strengthen cooperation so as to make positive contributions to the global economic recovery and the building of an open world economy.