Chinese President Xi Jinping has profoundly observed that "the world economy thrives in openness and withers in seclusion," and that "openness is the essential path to national prosperity". On the afternoon of November 5, 2026, the Press Conference on the World Openness Report 2026 and the International Symposium on World Opening-Up were successfully held at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai). As a key parallel session of the Ninth HongQiao International Economic Forum, the event once again released the Forum's flagship report—the World Openness Report 2026—together with the latest World Openness Index. Under the theme of "global cooperation on opening-up based on mutual trust and accessibility," participants built consensus and contributed wisdom, pooling strength for the building of an open world economy.

The symposium was co-hosted by the Institute of World Economics and Politics (IWEP) of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and the Research Center for HongQiao International Economic Forum, supported by the National Institute for Global Strategy of CASS, and organized by the China Outsourcing Institute. It comprised three panels—Keynote Speech, Release of the Report, and Expert Perspectives—bringing together distinguished guests from home and abroad across government, academia, and business to assess the trends of the future and chart the way forward.

In the "Keynote Speech" panel, speeches were delivered by YAN Dong, Vice Minister of Commerce of the People's Republic of China; ZHANG Yuyan, Member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; ZHENG Yongnian, Dean of the School of Public Policy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Dean of the Institute for International Affairs, Qianhai; and Luz Maria de la Mora, Director of the Division on International Trade and Commodities at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and former Vice Minister of Foreign Trade of Mexico. The speakers spoke highly of the academic value and practical relevance of the World Openness Report and the World Openness Index. They noted that, at a time when unilateralism and protectionism are surging and geopolitical rivalry intertwines with trade barriers, the Report "lets the data speak and builds its case on facts," providing an authoritative reference for assessing where world openness is heading, and they expressed the hope that it will continue to play an active role in building an open world economy.

In the “Release of the Report” panel, LIAO Fan, head of the World Openness Report research team and Director-General of IWEP of CASS, presented the Report's core content and latest findings, while WANG Xuekun, head of the Research Center for HongQiao International Economic Forum, presented the chapters on China's opening-up.

The Report consists of three parts—trends in world openness, hot topics on world openness, and successful practices of openness—spanning eleven chapters. Taking "building an open world economy" as its mission and "toward more resilient and inclusive openness for all" as its main thread, it offers in-depth analysis of frontier topics such as trade and investment systems for the future, the restructuring of global value chains and shifting patterns of value distribution, open innovation ecosystems for future industries, international digital corridors, the green and low-carbon transition, and South-South cooperation. Special chapters on "China Opportunities 2.0" and "China’s APEC 2026," among others, present a panoramic view of the market, innovation, and industrial dividends that China's opening-up brings to the world.

According to the Report, world openness presents a complex picture of "significant overall tightening, widening internal divergence, and profound shifts in underlying drivers." In 2025, the World Openness Index stood at 0.7453, down 1.00% year on year—the steepest drop since 2016—and 1.56% below the 2019 level. Both the openness policy index and the openness performance index declined, by 1.09% and 0.90% respectively. By domain, the economic openness index fell 1.44%, while the social and cultural openness indices edged up slightly; by region, six of the seven regions saw openness contract, with Europe and Central Asia, and North America, tightening for two consecutive years; by group of economies, the openness index of advanced economies declined while that of emerging and developing economies rose. The Belt-and-Road countries expanded openness against the tide, with their openness index up 0.43% year on year.

Against the backdrop of a marked global tightening, China's relative standing in openness moved up against the trend. From 1990 to 2025, China's openness index rose from 0.5891 to 0.7551, an increase of 28.18%—among the fastest in the world. In 2025 China ranked 37th out of 129 economies, one place higher than in 2024, 32 places higher than in 2008, and 50 places higher than in 1990. Since 1990, China's openness performance index has climbed by 40.24%, leading all other economies, and the country's overall level of openness remains at a historic high.

Compared with previous editions, the World Openness Report 2026 stands out in four respects.

First, it pools global wisdom. The Report draws extensively on renowned scholars from China and abroad in framework design, indicator validation, and scholarly exchanges, and commissions special chapters by Nobel laureates and former editors-in-chief of authoritative United Nations reports, offering more authoritative perspectives for examining global cooperation on opening-up.

Second, it keeps pace with frontier issues. It offers a comprehensive reading of international hot topics—future industries, the transformation driven by artificial intelligence, the evolution of digital rules, and South-South cooperation—providing useful reference for promoting world economic development.

Third, it broadens the research paradigm. Drawing on more than 7,500 questionnaires from 40 economies outside China, it pioneers a global public opinion survey on world openness, more faithfully capturing how ordinary people experience openness and closure in their daily lives.

Fourth, it showcases the dividends of opening-up. Through special chapters such as "China Opportunities 2.0," the Report presents a panoramic view of the market dividends, innovation dividends, and industrial dividends that China's opening-up and development bring to the world, conveying China's clear commitment to pursuing common development and shared opportunities with all parties.

This year marks the opening year of China's 15th Five-Year Plan period. Openness practices such as high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and the continued hosting of the China International Import Expo (CIIE) vividly demonstrate the positive contribution China is making to global cooperation on opening-up based on mutual trust and accessibility. "China Opportunities 2.0" means that what China shares with the world is no longer confined to its super-sized market; it now extends to the new space created by industrial upgrading, innovative applications, and green development.

The Report points out that the Chinese market is an anchor of resilience for the world economy. Home to the world's largest middle-income group, China ranks among the top two globally in both consumption and import market size. As consumption upgrading unleashes greater market demand and creates more investment opportunities, more than 70,000 new foreign-invested enterprises were established in China in 2025. Chinese innovation is a wellspring of vitality for global development. China champions open innovation: its large artificial intelligence models continue to benefit the world, helping all countries—developing countries in particular—to reap the rewards of technological progress, while its fertile ground for innovation is drawing enterprises from around the world to set up R&D centers and regional headquarters in China and integrate deeply into its innovation and industrial chains.

The Report systematically reviews the successful practices of China's opening-up. High-quality Belt and Road cooperation has become a model of international cooperation. This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Global Development Initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping. By the end of 2025, China had signed 17 free trade agreements with 23 partner countries and customs AEO mutual recognition arrangements with 38 partner countries, while deepening cooperation in frontier fields such as 5G networks, solar energy, and wind power. The CIIE has grown into an international public good shared by all: over eight years, intended deals have risen from US$57.83 billion at the first expo to US$83.49 billion at the eighth, while the HongQiao Forum has continued to release landmark outcomes and build global consensus on opening-up.

The "Expert Perspectives" panel was moderated by CHEN Weihong, host of the Dialogue program of China Media Group. Chinese and international experts and business leaders took part in in-depth discussions on the trend in global openness, new digital and green drivers of growth, and the development of the Global South. They included ZHU Min, former Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF); GONG Ke, Executive Director of the Chinese Institute of New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Strategies; YU Miaojie, President of Liaoning University; Christopher Pissarides, Regius Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences; Jeffrey Sachs, University Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University; Hamid Rashid, former chief of the Global Economic Monitoring Branch at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs; Sushan Hughes, President of Johnson Controls Asia Pacific; and ZHANG Yixiang, Director of Investment Promotion of China-Africa TEDA Investment Co., Ltd.

The participants reached an important consensus: opening-up in the years ahead will no longer be a matter of simply widening market access, but will attach greater importance to the balance between openness and security, efficiency and equity, and development and resilience. China remains firmly committed to expanding high-standard opening-up and, through its own openness, promotes common openness across the world—making it a trustworthy and dependable partner in trade and economic cooperation. Trust is the prerequisite for global cooperation on opening-up. In the face of the countercurrent of protectionism and the risk of a widening digital divide in the age of artificial intelligence, all countries should discard zero-sum thinking, dispel misgivings through mutual trust, broaden universal benefit through accessibility, and work together to improve global governance, advancing a common opening-up that is more inclusive and more resilient.

Since its debut in 2021, the World Openness Report has been published for six consecutive years, and its influence has grown with each edition. The 15th Five-Year Plan is at once China's development blueprint and a list of opportunities for international cooperation. Confronting head-on the trust deficit and development deficit now weighing on the world economy, the symposium called for advancing universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization. Building a future of win-win global openness through cooperation on opening-up based on mutual trust and accessibility is becoming the common aspiration of all those gathered here.