Foreign CEOs to flock to China for key summit, Xi meeting, sources say

By Laurie Chen

BEIJING (Reuters) -Dozens of foreign CEOs will visit Beijing this month for a flagship development conference where some are expected to meet President Xi Jinping, according to a draft agenda and three sources familiar with the matter.

The annual China Development Forum will take place on March 23-24 at Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, two sources told Reuters.

Attendees include the CEOs of FedEx, Siemens, automakers BMW and Mercedes-Benz, chip designer Qualcomm, AstraZeneca, Nestle, Saudi Aramco, Citadel, Rio Tinto, Deutsche Bank, McKinsey, Estee Lauder, Standard Chartered and KPMG, according to a draft agenda seen by Reuters.

Top executives of several major mining, engineering and healthcare firms will also take part, according to the draft agenda, which could be subject to last-minute changes, one of the sources said. Compared to previous years, a higher proportion of European CEOs are represented.

Xi is likely to meet a select group of foreign chief executives days after the summit, which could include European and British CEOs, said one source, adding that the timing and the list of attendees could still change.

Beijing is desperate to attract foreign investment at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions, as policymakers try to boost domestic consumption to offset fresh U.S. tariff pressure.

U.S. President Donald Trump launched 20% tariffs on Chinese exports this month, prompting China to retaliate with additional duties on American agriculture products.

Foreign direct investment into China fell 13.4% year-on-year in January, according to official data released last month.

"Any trip to China by American CEOs would be very low-key given the current heightened scrutiny on American investment in China from Washington," said the source, adding that fewer U.S. CEOs would attend this year.

The CEOs of American chip giants Micron and AMD are not listed on the draft agenda, despite having attended last year.

American firms subject to current investigations or scrutiny by Chinese authorities including Google, Illumina, PVH and Walmart also do not appear on the draft agenda.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang is not likely to meet with foreign CEOs this year, the source added, after he skipped a customary meeting last year - one of the rare opportunities for foreign executives to have face time with a top Chinese official.

A Mercedes-Benz spokesperson confirmed to Reuters that CEO and Chairman Ola Kallenius would attend the forum.

Notable domestic attendees listed on the draft agenda include CEO of Unitree Robotics Wang Xingxing and Qu Fang, the CEO of social media app RedNote, which became a sensation in America earlier this year as ByteDance-owned TikTok was on the cusp of being banned by U.S. authorities.

RedNote and Unitree did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Wang attended a rare meeting Xi held with some of China's biggest tech firm CEOs last month. The tightly choreographed pro-business rally sent a strong signal of support to China's embattled tech sector and reflected policymakers' concern about U.S. efforts to limit China's technological development, analysts said.

Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan as well as senior officials from the IMF and World Bank will also attend, according to the draft agenda.

(Reporting by Laurie Chen and Beijing Newsroom; Additional reporting by Brenda Goh in Shanghai and Kane Wu in Hong Kong; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Ros Russell)