On August 22, He Yadong, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, introduced the situation of China's outward investment and cooperation in the first seven months of this year at a regular press conference. From January to July 2024, China's outward non-financial direct investment was 83.55 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 16.2%. Among them, the non-financial direct investment of Chinese enterprises in the "the Belt and Road" countries was 17.94 billion US dollars, up 7.7% year on year.

From January to July 2024, the completed revenue of foreign contracted projects was 86.28 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 6.6%; The newly signed contract amount is 133.95 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 25%. Among them, the turnover of Chinese enterprises in jointly constructing the "the Belt and Road" national contracting projects reached US $69.88 billion, up 5.2% year on year; The newly signed contract amount was 110.1 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 22.3%.

Professor Lyu Yue from the National Institute of Opening up at the University of International Business and Economics stated in an interview with Securities Daily that in the first seven months of this year, China's outbound investment data grew strongly and steadily, and outbound investment cooperation further became stable and far-reaching.

Lyu Yue further stated that, firstly, from the overall trend of outward investment, China's outward investment cooperation has shown a positive growth trend, with various data showing impressive results. Among them, China's outward non-financial direct investment increased by 16.2% year-on-year in the first seven months. This growth rate not only reflects the strong driving force of China's outward investment, but also reflects the positive spillover effects of China's stable economic growth.

Secondly, from the perspective of the regional layout of outbound investment, in the first seven months, China's non-financial direct investment in the co construction of the "the Belt and Road" countries increased by 7.7% year on year, reflecting that the co construction of the "the Belt and Road" countries is still an important direction of outbound investment, with high growth potential. Finally, in terms of foreign contracted engineering, the competitiveness of Chinese enterprises in the international contracted engineering market continues to strengthen. In the first seven months, the turnover increased by 6.6% year-on-year, with a particularly impressive increase of 25% in newly signed contracts. This creates favorable conditions for the sustainable growth of future foreign contracted engineering business.

It is worth noting that recently, the Ministry of Commerce and other four departments jointly released the Opinions on Strengthening the Coordination of Commerce and Finance to More Strongly Support the High Quality Development of Cross border Trade and Investment, which put forward a number of measures around key areas such as deepening the "the Belt and Road" economic and trade cooperation and foreign investment cooperation, as well as key links such as promoting financing, preventing risks, and improving services.

Looking ahead to the next stage of China's outward foreign direct investment trend, Lyu Yue stated that overall, China's outward investment still has great growth potential in the medium and long term, especially in the field of infrastructure construction, which represents a broad prospect for outward investment cooperation. This includes both the internal empowerment of China's global competitive advantage in key industries and infrastructure construction, as well as the external driving force of countries around the world increasing their recognition of China's economy and actively strengthening multilateral and bilateral investment cooperation.

Lyu Yue predicts that in terms of investment cooperation, infrastructure construction will still be a key area of China's outward investment, and outward investment in emerging fields such as green economy, digital economy, future industries, and industrial chain supply chain is booming. In terms of investment cooperation objects, China's circle of friends for overseas investment cooperation will only become larger and more diverse. Jointly building the "the Belt and Road" countries will be a new force for China's overseas investment.

How to promote high-quality development of foreign investment cooperation under the new situation? Yu Xiaoming, Senior Investment Advisor at Jufeng Investment Consulting, believes that firstly, we need to further optimize the investment structure, encourage investment in high-tech and green economy, and explore new growth opportunities; Secondly, it is necessary to strengthen project risk assessment and enhance the cross-border operational capabilities of enterprises; In addition, deepening international cooperation, enhancing the position of Chinese enterprises in the global value chain, promoting sustainable development of foreign investment cooperation, and achieving mutual benefit and win-win results.

Lyu Yue suggested actively exploring new models of outward investment. Through new models such as the overall "going global" of the industrial chain, upstream and downstream clustering "going global", and brand and technology "going global", cluster effects and synergies are formed to achieve resource sharing and risk sharing, and to enhance the competitiveness of foreign investment.