Urbanization injecting new impetus for global trade and investment

Urbanization is leading innovation, unleashing productive social forces, and injecting new impetus to global trade and investment, said experts and business leaders at a panel discussion of the New Economy Forum in Beijing.

The forum, which opened on Thursday, is co-organized by the China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE) and Bloomberg.

Huang Qifan, former mayor of Chongqing and vice-chairman of CCIEE, said that China's urbanization rate has risen to 65 percent from 18.6 percent in the past 40 years, with the urban population increasing from 260 million to 800 million in the same period.