CHANGSHA, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Government officials and business representatives commended the huge development opportunities provided by the Chinese market for multinational enterprises.

　　Expressing optimism about the prospects of China's economic development, they noted that they are looking forward to strengthening cooperation with the country.

　　The remarks came during the second conference of the Global Economic Development and Security Forum of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), which was held in Changsha, capital city of central China's Hunan Province, from Sunday to Tuesday.

　　"China is a hot land for innovation, and we have always attached great importance to the Chinese market," said Masahiko Suga, president of the Japan-based Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance (China).

　　Last April, the company set up a global digital innovation laboratory in China to explore the combination of new technology and insurance products and services.

　　The company will increase investment in the future to achieve its global innovation strategy, with the help of China's technology and market advantages, Suga said.

　　Xu Jun, chief representative of Global Business China/Nanjing of Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), said that NRW has always had good economic cooperation with China.

　　"We look forward to strengthening cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises of the two countries in the future German-Chinese exchanges, and sharing development opportunities in the fields of intelligent manufacturing, biomedicine, e-commerce logistics and new energy," Xu said.

　　With the gradual recovery of international trade exchanges, Japan and China have a very large space for cooperation in the field of economy and trade, and can work together to tackle common challenges, said Toyoki Oka, an official with the Japan-China Investment Promotion Organization.

　　Chinese authorities often hold investment promotion activities for Japanese enterprises. Entrepreneurs from Japan across various industries have a strong interest in investing in China and they hope to create more opportunities to promote economic exchanges between the two countries, he added.

　　This year marks the 40th anniversary of French power giant EDF's entry into China. "China has always been an important market for the company to expand international business," said Song Xudan, senior executive vice-president of EDF China.

　　In recent years, China's development in new energy, energy storage and other emerging fields has been very dynamic, and the company will continue to increase investment in the Chinese market to help China promote energy transformation, she added.

　　A series of activities including the opening ceremony, sub-forums, roundtables and expositions have taken place during this forum.

　　It has attracted more than 2,500 guests from home and abroad, including experts, scholars, government officials, and representatives of international organizations and the business community.

　　The first conference of the Global Economic Development and Security Forum of the BFA was held in Changsha in 2021.