CCIEE Chairman Meets with Chairman of the AXA Group

On the morning of July 13, 2010, Mr. Zeng Peiyan, Chairman of CCIEE, met with Mr. Henri de Castries, Chairman of the AXA Group (AXA) and his colleagues at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse. Also at the meeting were Mr. John Dacey, Group Regional CEO for Japan & Asia-Pacific, Mr. Alex Kimura, Group Regional Executive, Guo Yongping, Executive VP for China, Mr. Jamie McCarry, President of AXA-Minmetals Assurance Co., and Mr. Wei Jianguo, Secretary General of CCIEE.

Mr. Zeng briefly introduced the development of China’s economy: China’s economy has recovered to the level of the first quarter of 2008 at the beginning of this year. GDP maintained a relatively high growth rate in the first and second quarters this year. Some new problems, however, have also emerged, such as the soaring price in the real estate market, rising price index, and increasing energy intensity. To deal with these problems, Chinese government took some financial and administrative measures and has seen good result in the short term, which has positive impact on the stable economic development. China’s economy will continue to maintain relatively stable development at reasonable speed.

Mr. Castries agreed with Mr Zeng’s views on China’s economy and its prospect. He also mentioned that the international community is very concerned with the European sovereign debt crisis, while the US underestimates Europe’s political willpower and capability of overcoming economic difficulties. Europe should mainly focus on reforming its financial regulation completely and strengthening its control on government spending. European countries have already begun to adopt more stringent tax policy. Presently, the European economy is in a good state, with stable unemployment rate, increasing consumption and a further development in business investment.  

Also, Mr. Castries briefed Mr. Zeng on AXA Group’s business development in China and public welfare projects it has taken in China. He said that China is an important market for AXA in its long-term strategic development. AXA will further increase its investment in China and hopes to conduct more cooperation with CCIEE through the AXA Research Fund.

Mr. Zeng praised AXA for the social responsibility it takes, noting that China is experiencing rapid development and has a lot of potentials in its modern service industry. He hopes AXA can seize the opportunity while actively committing itself to public welfare, so as to maximize its economic and social benefits.