The harsh winter doesn't chill people's enthusiasm for the annual international talent exchange conference held in the city of Shenzhen, southern China's Guangdong Province. Today the city embraces the opening of the 11th Conference on International Exchange of Professional (CIEP).

The 11th Conference on International Exchange of Professionals opens in Shenzhen on Dec. 10, 2012, and will last for two days. [Photo: Guo Xiaohong]

The conference this year focuses on introducing global expertise and promoting common development. It will host various forums, seminars, sign-up ceremonies, as well as a job fair for high-end professionals.

The conference has become an important platform for the introduction of foreign talent in China, but also one for domestic talents going abroad, said Zhang Jianguo, president of the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs at the opening ceremony of the conference.

The recent meeting between China's new General Secretary Xi Jinping of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, and foreign experts on Dec. 5 in Beijing, sends out a strong signal that China is set to deepen its talent exchange with the outside world against the backdrop of the nation's reform and opening-up, said Zhang.

During the 18th CPC's national congress, China has listed talent development strategy as one of its major tasks for the near future. The country will invite more foreign experts to work in China, while selecting more Chinese professionals to be trained in other countries, aiming to push forward common prosperity, Zhang said.

Philipp Niermann, head of the German Senior Experts Service, echoed Zhang's point of view. He said the CIEP has become a platform for face-to-face talent exchange with the greatest possible results. Through this platform, Germany sees an increase of 250 cooperation projects with other countries every year.

Over 5,000 German experts have come to work in China since 1983. In terms of talent exchange, China has, over the past three decades, become Germany's largest partner in the world, said Niermann. He hopes to find new cooperation partners at this year's conference.

The number of foreign experts has risen from less than 10,000 in the late 1980s, to about 530,000 by the end of 2011.

Over 3,000 overseas expert organizations, training institutions, higher education, HR agencies and technology enterprises from 80 countries and regions attended this conference, hoping to introduce foreign talent and high-end overseas students through on-site recruitment and close negotiations.

The abovementioned indicates that China, one of the few healthy economies in the currently still troubled global economy, is still attracting more foreign talents to pursue their careers and China dreams.

The annual conference is a state-level international conference for talent exchange and the only one open to foreign expert organizations, training institutions and professionals. The event is co-hosted by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs and the Shenzhen municipal government.