Chinese employees have become more and more important in the international workforce, according to the participants in the 2005 Fortune Global Forum Tuesday.

The ratio of Chinese employees in multinational companies increased rapidly in recent years. "We have done many years of business in China, with Chinese employees harmoniously cooperating with foreign staff. Our similarities go far beyond our cultural differences," said William G. Parrett, CEO of Deloitte.

More than 80 percent of the employees in the Deloitte Accounting Company China office are local.

Charles Prince, CEO of Citibank group, said Chinese employees can not only benefit the localization of multinational companies, but also diversify the company culture. Whether employees come from Beijing or Hong Kong, they all promote the various cultural backgrounds within the company.

"China not only has the world's largest number of multinational companies, but also the world's biggest workforce. The localization strategy provided opportunity for Chinese employees, as well as enabled them to meet challenges of unified standard," said Diana Farrell, a Mckinsey expert.

"Walmart hopes to realize localization of employees and to become a local company. To foster a similar company cultural value,employees have meetings to establish a similar culture as well as share knowledge," said John B Menzer, Walmart CEO.

Source: Xinhua