On September 6th, Ambassador Liu Xiaoming visited Morgan Stanley’s European headquarters in London and attended a roundtable with the senior management of the company, including Walid Chammah, the Co-President and Chief Executive Officer, Clare Woodman, the Chief Operating Officer and Franck Petitgas, the Head of International Investment Banking. He was accompanied by Minister counsellor Zhou Xiaoming and others from the Commercial Section of the Chinese Embassy.

Walid welcomed Ambassador Liu, highly praised China’s active role in tackling the financial crisis and stimulating the world economic recovery. He said that China is the world’s most promising and dynamic market, and that Morgan Stanley, as one of the first international investment banks entering into the Chinese market, has offices in 6 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Zhuhai and over 800 Chinese employees. The company attaches great importance to the cooperation with China and is ready to further expand investment in China.

Ambassador Liu said that Morgan Stanley is a leading international financial services company and is in good cooperation with China. China’s rapid economic development over the past more than 30 years is a result of the win-win strategy of opening up firmly pursued by the country. The Chinese government is always committed to providing better investment environment for foreign investors, and foreign companies including Morgan Stanley are welcomed to expand their business in China. The Ambassador hoped that Morgan Stanley would help Chinese companies to go to the international market with its rich experiences in financial services and management. China values the cooperation with Morgan Stanley and the Chinese Embassy is ready to assist.

Ambassador Liu also visited the Morgan Stanley’s trading floor, learned about the company’s operations and business in China in great detail, and exchanged views with the senior management and economists of Morgan Stanley on the world economic recovery in post-crisis era, the evolution of the debt crisis in Europe, the “rebalancing” of global economy and industrial revitalization, price movements of bulk stock and energy resources, China’s economic restructuring and other issues.

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Morgan Stanley is a well-known international financial services company providing a wide range of banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services with its over 1,300 offices in over 30 countries. In 1995, Morgan Stanley and China Construction Bank jointly incorporated China International Capital Corporation, which helped Chinese companies to raise nearly USD 80 billion in the international market over the past 15 years.