China to further expand opening-up: Premier

Aerial photo taken on Sept. 11, 2020 shows the city view of Shenzhen, in south China's Guangdong Province. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)

BEIJING, March 23 (Xinhua) -- China will further expand its  opening-up, and hopes to achieve win-win results through two-way and  multi-directional opening-up with other countries, Chinese Premier Li  Keqiang said here Monday.

Li met representatives of overseas attendees of the China Development Forum 2021 via video link in Beijing. Heads of Fortune 500 companies,  experts and scholars from renowned international academic research  institutions, and representatives of major international organizations  participated in the forum.

Answering a question about China's rate and quality of growth, Li  said that, in the face of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, China  achieved positive economic growth last year under the strong leadership  of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee with Comrade Xi  Jinping at the core.

The country has set the 2021 growth target at over 6 percent to  consolidate the foundation for economic recovery and growth. It also  aligns with what the country can accomplish next year and the year  after, Li said.

The growth target is not low, and China may even achieve a faster growth rate in practice, he said.

While maintaining stable economic growth, China must strive to  improve quality and efficiency. This requires adequate employment,  continued growth in incomes, sustained improvement of the ecological  environment, optimized economic structure and improved labor  productivity, said the premier.

He said that China still faces mounting pressures in boosting  employment this year, as about 14 million urban people will enter the  labor market, while the country is aiming to create no less than 11  million new urban jobs.

It needs to seek a balance between growth, employment, income and  prices, and cannot pursue economic growth based on high energy  consumption and heavy pollution, Li said.

He added that efforts should be made to increase the vitality and  profits of market players, continue to promote urbanization, unleash the huge potential of domestic demand, and enhance the role of consumption  in stimulating the economy.

Li pointed out that opening-up is the only path for China's  development, and over the past 40 years, the Chinese economy has been  deeply integrated into the world economy. China will further expand its  opening-up, and hopes to achieve win-win results through two-way and  multi-directional opening-up with other countries.

The premier also answered questions from the delegates on coping with population aging, poverty reduction and education, financial opening-up and green development.

The attendees hailed China's development achievements, saying that  China's deepening of reform and opening-up will bring new opportunities  for global economic development.

Noting that they are confident with China's future development  prospects, they expressed their willingness to use China's promotion of  high-quality development as an opportunity to better achieve mutual  benefits and win-win cooperation. Enditem