More than 600 guests are scheduled to come to Chengdu to attend the three-day forum.
The long guest list includes executives from the Fortune Global 500 enterprises such as Coca-Cola, General Electric Co, Intel, Nokia, Burberry and leading domestic companies such as Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co and New Hope Group.
Local authorities hope the forum will boost the development and opening up of the southwestern province's economy.
Before the opening of the forum, a batch of multinationals and domestic companies announced new investment plans in Chengdu Wednesday.
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, which was ranked 191st in the Fortune Global 500 last year, plans to set up a small loan company with a registered capital of 300 million yuan ($48.96 million) .
AEGON-CNOOC Life Insurance Co, Sino-Ocean Land, China Resources Land and Greenland Group also have plans to build new shopping centers or establish company branches in the city.
The coming of multinationals will pressure local companies to increase their competitiveness, Xie Kaihua, director of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Commerce, was quoted as saying in an article posted on chengduvip.cn Wednesday.
Local enterprises should have ambitions to build themselves into multinationals, he said.
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