Executives of multinational corporations struck a bullish note late on Sunday at the China Development Forum 2026's Beijing Night, expressing renewed confidence in investing in the Chinese capital following a keynote speech by Beijing's top official.

In his speech, Yin Li, Party secretary of Beijing, highlighted the city's role as a global innovation hub, citing the strengths of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, its burgeoning digital economy, and the synergistic effects brought on by its educational, technological and human resources.

He anticipated that the city would continue to collaborate with multinational companies to "build Beijing into a global investment destination" during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30).

Apple CEO Tim Cook took the opportunity to express gratitude for the relationships Apple has cultivated in Beijing, as well as optimism.

He said that China and Apple share "a future where technology can be a force for good, uplifting people, enriching their lives, and unlocking a wellspring of human potential".

Saravoot Yoovidhya, CEO of TC Pharmaceutical Industries from Thailand, said, "Our company enjoys strong support, and it's quite easy to communicate with the government in Beijing to find the solutions we need."

Statistics show that Beijing's GDP has grown at an average annual rate of 5.2 percent in the past five years. Its GDP reached a total of 5.2 trillion yuan ($754.4 billion) in 2025, an increase of 5.4 percent year-on-year.

The city has taken the lead in both per capita GDP and overall labor productivity in the nation.

"The deep integration of technological and industrial innovation has fostered the rapid development of new quality productive forces, creating a vibrant market in Beijing," Yin said.

"Looking forward, the city continues to deepen its partnership with MNCs, and optimize its environment to be more livable, tourist-friendly and business-friendly. Social harmony and stability, along with effective urban governance, have made Beijing one of the safest cities in the world," he said.

During the event, attendees enjoyed ice cream made by locally produced robots, observed rehabilitation exoskeletons, and tried on translator glasses and some AI-powered novel products, in a city that is an AI pioneer in the world.

Beijing is also expected to release its AI open source achievements during the Zhongguancun Forum, a top science and technology forum, which is due to open on Wednesday.

It will inaugurate a global AI open source alliance during the event, vying for global investors of an AI corridor in Haidian district, where the country's AI giants are located.

Prior to the forum, Beijing announced its ambitious strategy to enter into high-value niche areas of high-temperature superconductors, synthetic bio-manufacturing, gene editing tools, chips, two-dimensional semiconductors and brain-computer interfaces.

In the quantum domain, Beijing plans to strengthen a multitechnology strategy to build a comprehensive quantum computing hardware and software technology system, according to the plan.