Peter Sands joins new Chinese government advisory council

Peter Sands, Group Chief Executive of Standard Chartered, is a founding member of the new council of multinational CEOs, which had its inaugural meeting in Beijing on 5 June 2013. The government issued the following statement.

The Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries established “Global CEO Council” (GCC) on June 5 in Beijing and invited 14 CEOs from leading multinational companies to join the first council.

The purpose of the council, according to President Li Xiaolin of CPAFFC, is to build a platform for dialogue and policy communications between the international business community and the Chinese government for friendship, cooperation, peace and common development. The GCC will meet at the summit once a year.

The members are BHP Billiton, Carrefour, Coca-cola, Cummins, Dell, Dow Chemical, DSM, Honeywell, IBM, Metlife, Prologis, Standard Chartered, Volkswagen and Walt Disney.

Vice Chairman Han Qide and Vice Chairman Wan Gang of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference attended the first summit and the founding ceremony of the GCC.

The GCC members also joined a roundtable discussion with Premier Li Keqiang of China on Chinese economy and foreign investment related policies before the founding ceremony.

With a history of 60 years, CPAFFC is engaged in people-to-people diplomacy and has established relationship with over 500 non-governmental organisations in 157 countries and regions of the world. The aims of the Association are to enhance people’s friendship, further international cooperation, safeguard world peace and promote common development.