The Future Investment Conference 2026 opened in Xiamen, Southeast China's Fujian Province on September 8th. Themed "Global Investment for a Changing World", the conference brought together global policymakers, international organizations, sovereign wealth funds, institutional investors and industry leaders to examine how innovation and sustainability can shape the future.

The conference is a significant international flagship event held concurrently with the China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT), and it was held for the second year.

Currently, global investment is unevenly distributed, with 80 percent of the total concentrated in over 20 countries. In particular, strategic investments in fields such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, clean energy, and energy transition technologies are concentrated in a few countries and a handful of key industries. Many countries have a common desire to capitalize on international cooperation to alter this landscape.

Pedro Manuel Moreno, Acting Secretary-General of the UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), highlighted the significance of the conference, saying that amid waves of technological transformation, investors, governments, and development banks are keenly interested in the direction of capital flows. As developing countries increasingly participate in global decision-making, the likelihood that future industry investments will land in these nations will rise.

What is the future of global economic development? The conference pointed to key areas with long-term growth potential — AI, life sciences, healthcare, and the marine economy.

Sun Chanthol, Deputy Prime Minister and First Vice-Chairman of the Council for the Development of Cambodia, cited two Chinese proverbs in his speech at the conference, which were met with applause. His first proverb was "To get rich, first must build roads." His desire was to thank Chinese companies for their support in Cambodia's infrastructure development. His second was "A single tree does not make a forest; a single string cannot make music." He used this proverb to emphasize that future global investment should be based on openness rather than division, and on connectivity rather than isolation. Only by truly uniting and achieving win-win cooperation can investment become a powerful force driving economic growth and shared prosperity.