China's Ministry of Commerce's (MOFCOM) annual Chinese and Foreign Investment Promotion Agencies Conference was held in Beijing on Wednesday. China's Vice Commerce Minister and Deputy China International Trade Representative, Wang Shouwen, who leads China's recent trade negotiations, said that the negotiation for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has hit the final stage.

The vice minister delivered a speech during the conference, noting that the negotiation for a comprehensive trade deal with ASEAN, Japan, S. Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India has entered the final stage. He added that China and the European Union right now are talking market entry negative list for an investment treaty. The vice minister also mentioned that China and the U.S. are continuing to work on a trade resolution that fits both leaders' consensus. 

Meanwhile, the likes of Swedish furniture giant and lifestyle company IKEA, American manufacturing company Johnson & Johnson and Chinese manufacturer Sany Group, attended the conference and weighted in on investment potentials this year.

Anna Pawlak Kuliga, IKEA China CEO, eyed 2019 a “record investment year”, in the meantime, mentioned that several new IKEA stores would debut in China this year.

Chinese companies also shared experiences of investing overseas. “In the past fiscal year, we had 20 billion yuan (nearly three billion U.S. dollars), or one fifth of our revenues, come from overseas,” said Tang Xiuguo, Sany Group's President. And he listed three principles for Chinese company going abroad.

“Our global investment follows three principles, first, we pick the right products and technologies for the local market, second, our investment has to be in line with local development plans, third, we localize our staff,” he noted.