The opening ceremony of the 17th International Finance Forum is held in Guangzhou's Nansha district on Nov 21.

The opening ceremony of the 17th International Finance Forum was held on Nov 21 in the Nansha district of Guangzhou.

The organization that staged the event is the International Finance Forum, or IFF, a China-based independent, non-profit and non-governmental international organization which aims to facilitate high-level financial dialogues.

Nearly 200 politicians, experts and academics from home and abroad, as well as more than 400 guests, participated in the opening ceremony. They discussed pressing issues such as current monetary and fiscal policies, the future world trade system, global carbon pricing schemes, as well as the development strategies of the Nansha International Financial Island.

The forum's opening event received a letter of congratulations from He Houhua, vice president of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, as well as video greetings by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Gao Yan, chairperson of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

Launched by IFF for the first time, the 2020 Global Green Financial Innovation Award held its awards ceremony during the event, honoring global innovative solutions for green finance -- to push forward international communications and cooperation in green finances.

"We feel very honored to be able to win the award," said one of the winners of the award from Nansha.

"The Nansha government has offered a lot of supportive projects, which attracted us a lot."

Liao Xiaosheng, director of Nansha's financial bureau, said that during the two days the conference was held, hot topics discussed would provide decision references for Nansha's future layout and the development of its financial industry.