The 2025 Bund Summit in Shanghai from October 23 to 25 brings together global policymakers, business leaders and scholars to share insights, foster cooperation and explore ways to build an open world economy.

The recently concluded Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee stressed the need to expand high-standard opening up and foster a new pattern of mutually beneficial cooperation. Since its inauguration in 2019, the Bund Summit has been committed to building a more open, candid and professional platform for international exchange.

Under the theme "Embracing Changes: New Order New Technology", this year's event focuses on key topics across the economy, finance and technology.

At the opening ceremony, former European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet noted that the world is becoming increasingly multipolar, making multilateral cooperation more crucial than ever. He underlined that global interconnection remains vital for the exchange of goods, services, technologies, discoveries and ideas that drive the world economy.

Echoing this call for collaboration, Robert Rubin, the 70th US Secretary of the Treasury and honorary co-chair of the Council on Foreign Relations, said current US tariff policies have caused the country to lose the benefit of "comparative advantage," undermined the open trading system and increased consumer costs. "In a better ordered world," he added, "the United States and China would work together and develop an international regime for dealing with those risks."

From Europe, Agnès Bénassy-Quéré, deputy governor of the Bank of France, pointed to vast potential for win-win cooperation between China and Europe in areas such as the economy, energy, finance and trade.

On China's evolving financial landscape, Marc Uzan, executive director of the Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee, noted that "China is changing its growth model and financial system," adding "There is a revolution of money, there is a revolution of payment — and I think China is very well-positioned here." He also called Shanghai "a great place to understand what's going on in the financial system and investment landscape."

In a session on AI governance and international cooperation in finance, Xiao Yuanqi, vice-minister of China's National Financial Regulatory Administration, stressed that talent remains the most valuable asset in the financial sector. He said AI applications are still in the early stages and cannot replace human decision-making for now.

Zhou Xiaochuan, former governor of the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, observed that the impact of AI on monetary policy will require further observation and research over a longer period.

Jointly organized by the China Finance 40 Forum (CF40) and Tsinghua University, the Bund Summit aims to support Shanghai's ambition to become a global financial hub, promote China's constructive role in global governance, and contribute to bridging differences, building trust and fostering consensus worldwide.