Li Qiang Meets with International Delegates Attending the Annual Meeting of the China Development Forum 2023

2023-03-28 10:41

On the afternoon of March 27, 2023, Premier Li Qiang of the State Council met with international delegates attending the Annual Meeting of the China Development Forum 2023 and held talks with them in Beijing. Political figures from relevant countries, responsible officials of Fortune Global 500 companies, scholars and experts from renowned international academic institutes, and representatives from major international organizations were present at the event.

Li Qiang expressed gratitude to all attendees for their contributions to China’s development over the years. Noting that the current world economic development is in a difficult period of multiple and complicated changes, he said that all parties should sit down to do more thinking, make more discussions and increase communication. To deal with risks and challenges, first of all, all parties need to strengthen confidence and stabilize expectations, especially to look with a broader horizon and take a long-term perspective. It’s like traveling on a rainy day. If one always looks down at his feet, he can only see mud all over the ground; if he can look up ahead once in a while, he will see the rainbow after the rain. All parties should build more consensus, strengthen cooperation and jointly promote the recovery of the world economy.

Li Qiang stressed that over the past ten years, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, China’s economy has maintained steady growth, acted as the “ballast stone” and “engine” of the world economy and injected more and more certainty into world peace and development. While maintaining a certain growth rate in the future, China’s economy will accelerate reform in quality, efficiency, and growth drivers, and strive to achieve higher-quality development and improve people’s lives. All of these will provide new momentum for global economic growth and broad space for companies from all countries to develop in China.

Li Qiang stressed that China’s economy has been deeply integrated into the global division of labor, and China cannot develop in isolation from the world, and the world also needs China for its development. No matter how the international situation changes, China will unswervingly expand its opening up to the outside world. In alignment with high-standard international economic and trade rules, China will further implement the management system of pre-establishment national treatment and negative list, continue to improve trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, steadily expand institutional opening up, and strive to foster a world-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized. China will open itself wider to the world, and will provide a better environment and better services. To invest in and stay in China is to choose a better future. China is ready to work with all other parties to write a new chapter of openness, cooperation, mutual benefit and win-win results.

International delegates, including Oliver Bäte, Chairman of the Board of Management and CEO of Allianz SE; Tim Cook, CEO of Apple Inc.; Jakob Stausholm, Chief Executive of Rio Tinto; Toshiaki Higashihara, Director and Executive Chairman of Hitachi Ltd.; and Hans-Paul Bürkner, Global Chair Emeritus of the Boston Consulting Group, delivered speeches successively. They said that they were excited to return to China three years after the outbreak of COVID-19 and appreciated China’s important achievements in economic and social development. Joint efforts by all countries are needed to overcome the pandemic, promote post-pandemic economic recovery and meet global challenges, and China is expected to play an important role in solving global issues. Multinational enterprises have benefited from China’s reform and opening up and rapid development, and have made positive contributions to China’s development. They will continue to deepen cooperation with China in the future. China’s success is the success of global multinational enterprises. They believe that China will continue to expand its opening up and make significant contributions to world economic development. They also believe that China will have a bright future.

State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang, among others, attended the meeting.