On the afternoon of November 6th, the 6th Hongqiao International Economic Forum, co hosted by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce, and co organized by the Shanghai Development and Reform Commission, was held at the National Convention and Exhibition Center (Shanghai). This forum focuses on important issues related to the development of the silver economy, builds a platform for dialogue and exchange among domestic and foreign political, business, academic and research guests, further promotes international exchange and cooperation, gathers consensus for sharing new opportunities of aging population, and injects momentum into promoting innovative development and open cooperation of the silver economy.

Commissioned by Cong Liang, a member of the Party Group and Deputy Director of the National Development and Reform Commission, the main person in charge of the Social Affairs Department stated in the host's speech that under the trend of aging, there is enormous potential for the development of the silver haired economy to meet the needs of the elderly for a better life. Facing the future, China will focus on developing the silver economy, improving the well-being of the elderly, cultivating potential industries, adhering to the innovation driven development path, further creating an open and inclusive development environment, adding new impetus to high-quality economic development and the process of Chinese path to modernization, and also bringing new development opportunities to the world. We look forward to international cooperation in the field of silver economy, consolidating the mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation bond.

Sheng Qiuping, a member of the Party Group and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, stated in his speech that developing the silver haired economy is not only an important part of achieving high-quality development, but also an inherent requirement for improving people's quality of life. We hope that domestic and foreign enterprises can rely on the China International Import Expo as a national and international platform, take advantage of the rare opportunities provided by the Silver Hair Economic Forum, strengthen exchanges, gather consensus, deepen cooperation, and jointly promote the sustainable and healthy development of the silver hair economy.

Gu Shengzhu, Chief Expert of the Global Development Think Tank at Wuhan University and Vice Chairman of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, pointed out in his speech that aging is an important characteristic of China's new normal of population development. Seizing the opportunities of silver haired economic development and promoting healthy aging is the most economical and feasible path to actively respond to population aging.

Lin Yifu, Dean of the Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University, member of the Standing Committee of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and Deputy Director of the Economic Committee, stated that the Chinese style aging is expected to promote systematic changes in the economic structure, forming a massive silver haired economy, which will provide China's wisdom and solutions for the global response to aging.

Guo Meiyao, Consul General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Shanghai, and Xu Li Fengling, Director of the East Asian Bureau of the Asian Development Bank, have delivered speeches, elaborating on their understanding of the opportunities and challenges brought by aging, advocating for seizing development opportunities and working together to tap into the potential of silver haired economic cooperation.

In the achievement release stage, Zhang Yuxian, Director of the Forecasting Department of the National Information Center, released the "China's Active Response to Population Aging Urban Capacity Index Report (2023)". This year is the second consecutive year that this index report has been released. The report comprehensively evaluates the comprehensive ability of cities to actively respond to population aging from five dimensions: policy support, wealth reserve adequacy, service system completeness, social environmental friendliness, and silver haired economic growth. It will provide reference for cities to improve policy measures more targeted, and promote more cities to explore solutions that are suitable for economic and social development and population aging process.

In the practical exploration and exchange stage, Chen Yuanchun, Deputy Director of the Standing Committee of the Chongqing Municipal People's Congress, introduced vivid practices and typical experiences of urban response to population aging from building an elderly friendly social environment, Chen Shiyan, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Development and Reform Commission, promoting the development of the elderly care industry, and Huang Guili, Deputy Director of the Standing Committee of the Jinan Municipal People's Congress, improving the basic elderly care service system.

The forum also held a roundtable discussion on the silver economy, with leaders from well-known domestic and foreign companies in the fields of technology, services, manufacturing, finance, investment, etc., including Bank of China, General Technology, Alibaba Health, PepsiCo, Siemens, Bayer, Philips, and UK Technology City, focusing on two topics: "How to view the silver economy" and "How to explore the silver economy market". The attending guests answered the same questions together.

The forum issued a joint initiative:

Consolidate consensus and fully tap into the new dividends of an aging society; Jointly take action to promote high-quality development of the silver haired economy; Open cooperation and smooth the circulation of silver economy; Innovation leads and injects new momentum into the silver economy; Co construction and sharing, paving the way for happiness in elderly life!

About 260 guests from national ministries, international organizations, domestic and foreign financial institutions and enterprises, think tanks, universities and industry associations, local development and reform commissions, representative cities, and media units participated in this forum.

Source: National Development and Reform Commission