Christina Zhu, President and CEO of Walmart China, was elected Deputy Director-General of the China Chain-Store & Franchise Association (CCFA) at the CCFA fifth Council Meeting held in Shanghai.

At the council meeting, Christina remarked, "In recent years, China's retail industry has undergone disruptive changes, and this year's COVID-19 epidemic has also brought us unprecedented challenges. How to forge ahead against difficulties in such situation and in long-existing epidemic is a common task for all of us. Through the CCFA platform, Walmart sincerely looks forward to working with its partners to explore the future development path of the retail industry."

The following is the full script of Christina's speech:

Hello, everyone! I am Christina Zhu, President and CEO of Walmart China. It is a great honor for me to attend the Council Meeting of the China Chain-Store & Franchise Association and meet you all. CCFA is the most important industry association in the chain business field in China. Personally, I highly identify with the pragmatic work style of the Association and appreciate its persistent efforts in leading the development of the industry, safeguarding the interests of the industry and giving back to the society.

As a retailer dedicated to serving customers and making people live better, Walmart has been operating in China for 24 years. Since joining the CCFA in 2001, Walmart has closely followed the philosophy of the Association, and proactively participated in various work and cooperated with enterprises to promote the development of the industry. Under the guidance of the Association, Walmart has taken proactive action in the fields of industry policy research and counselling, food safety and social governance, sustainablility, and industry talent training.

The China Chain-Store & Franchise Association and many think tanks have widely taken part in policy formulation and proactively discussed issues of food safety law revision, flexible employment, and same electricity price for industrial and commercial users at ministerial forums. 

In the field of food safety in the retail industry, the Walmart Food Safety Collaboration Center strives to promote enterprises, organizations, research institutions and relevant departments to collaborate and innovate, and aims to setting up best practice examples for food safety in China.

In terms of industry policy counselling, we have interacted directly with relevant ministries and commissions through various channels, and made various suggestions on relevant issues.

As for sustainability, Walmart will work with all stakeholders to advance sustainable development in supply chain, operation and consumption, which will help our Chinese suppliers improve their competitiveness, and provide more innovative green products for consumers. We will continue to focus on vocational competency training for on-campus students, forge strategic cooperation with universities and get deeply integrated with their curriculum systems and training objectives, so as to train more high-quality talents for the future retail industry. 

In recent years, China's retail industry has undergone disruptive changes, and this year's COVID-19 epidemic has also brought us unprecedented challenges. How to forge ahead against difficulties in a situation of industry change and long-existing epidemic is a common task for all of us. Through the CCFA platform, Walmart and I sincerely look forward to making contributions to the following three areas:

First, we look forward to sharing with our peers the industry trends Walmart has observed in the international market and its outstanding practices in corporate compliance, food safety and other aspects.

Second, Walmart has been sparing no effort to promote sustainable development and stay at the forefront in the past 15 years. In September, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon announced that Walmart would redouble its efforts to cope with the growing climate crisis, set the goal of zero emissions for its global business operations by 2040 and transform into a renewable resource-oriented company. I understand that promoted by the Association, our peers are also proactively devoted to green shopping malls and sustainable consumption projects. Walmart is looking forward to engaging in deep exchanges with the industry and work with the upstream and downstream of the supply chain to promote the sustainable development of the industry.

Third, we will continue to support the work of CCFA as we have always done in the past. My colleagues will effectively carry out their work in the associates as always. Walmart will continue to work closely with its peers and share relevant resources.

Walmart is looking forward to working with its partners to explore the future development path of the retail industry along with CCFA.

Finally, I wish to thank you again for all the help and support you have given to Walmart over the years!

Thank you!