Distinguished Heads of State and Government, High-Level Representatives, Heads of International Organizations, Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends: Good morning! "Spring and autumn are seasons of fine days; climbing high, we compose new poems." In this beautiful season of burgeoning spring, I am delighted to join you and other distinguished guests for the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. On behalf of the Chinese government and people, and in my own name, I wish to extend a warm welcome to all of you.
Two years ago, we held the first Belt and Road Forum here and drew up a blueprint for cooperation on policy coordination, infrastructure connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and closer people-to-people ties. Today, friends from around the world have gathered once again. I look forward to working with you to scale new heights, forge ahead together, and jointly create a bright future for Belt and Road cooperation.
Colleagues and Friends!
The purpose of the Belt and Road Initiative is to promote connectivity, deepen practical cooperation, and jointly address the various risks and challenges facing humanity, so as to achieve mutual benefit and common development. Thanks to the joint efforts of all parties, the framework of the "six corridors, six routes, multiple countries and multiple ports" has taken shape. A large number of cooperation projects have taken root, and the outcomes of the first Belt and Road Forum have been implemented smoothly. More than 150 countries and international organizations have signed Belt and Road cooperation agreements with China. The Belt and Road Initiative has been aligned with the development and cooperation plans of international and regional organizations such as the United Nations, ASEAN, the African Union, the European Union, and the Eurasian Economic Union, as well as with the development strategies of various countries. From the Eurasian continent to Africa, the Americas and Oceania, Belt and Road cooperation has opened up new space for global economic growth, built a new platform for international trade and investment, expanded new practices for improving global economic governance, and made new contributions to improving the wellbeing of people in all countries. It has become a shared path of opportunity and prosperity. As facts show, Belt and Road cooperation has not only created new opportunities for the development of countries around the world, but also opened up new horizons for China’s openness and development.
An ancient Chinese thinker once said, "All things grow when they preserve their roots; all endeavors succeed when they follow the right principles." Belt and Road cooperation follows the historical trend of economic globalization, meets the epochal requirements of reforming the global governance system, and answers the strong desire of people of all countries for a better life. Going forward, we need to focus on key areas, work with meticulous care, jointly craft a fine and delicate "brushwork painting," and promote Belt and Road cooperation toward high-quality development.
— We should follow the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, uphold multilateralism, and have matters discussed and handled by all parties. We should encourage all sides to give full play to their strengths and capacities through bilateral, trilateral and multilateral cooperation, pooling the advantages and potential of all, so that grains of sand piled up become a tower and drops of water gathered become an ocean.
— We should adhere to the concepts of openness, green development and integrity, refrain from forming closed and exclusive blocs, and make green a defining color of cooperation. We should promote green infrastructure, green investment and green finance, and protect the common home on which we all depend. We should ensure that all cooperation is conducted in a transparent manner and take a zero-tolerance approach to corruption. We have launched the Beijing Initiative for the Clean Silk Road and stand ready to work with all parties to build a Silk Road of integrity and righteousness.
— We should strive to achieve high-standard, people-centered, sustainable goals, introduce rules and standards widely supported by all parties, and ensure that enterprises follow commonly accepted international rules and standards in project construction, operation, procurement and bidding, while respecting the laws and regulations of relevant countries. We should adhere to a people-centered development philosophy, focus on eradicating poverty, increasing employment and improving people’s wellbeing, so that the results of Belt and Road cooperation will benefit all people, make tangible contributions to local economic and social development, and ensure commercial and fiscal sustainability, so that we can do well and achieve success from beginning to end.
Colleagues and Friends!
Connectivity is the key to Belt and Road cooperation. We should build a global partnership on connectivity to achieve common development and prosperity. I believe that as long as we work together with mutual assistance, we will surely be able to find a broad road to win-win outcomes, even across mountains and oceans.
Infrastructure is the foundation of connectivity and a bottleneck for the development of many countries. Building high-quality, sustainable, resilient, reasonably priced, inclusive and accessible infrastructure will help countries fully leverage their resources, better integrate into global supply, industrial and value chains, and achieve interrelated development. China will continue to work with all parties to build a connectivity network led by economic corridors such as the New Eurasian Land Bridge, supported by major corridors such as the China-Europe Railway Express, the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, and the information expressway, and underpinned by railways, ports and pipeline networks. We will continue to leverage the role of Belt and Road special loans, the Silk Road Fund and various special-purpose investment funds, develop Silk Road-themed bonds, and support the effective operation of the Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance. We welcome multilateral and national financial institutions to participate in Belt and Road investment and financing, and encourage third-party market cooperation, so that all can benefit through the participation of multiple parties.
The flow of goods, capital, technology and people provides strong impetus and broad space for economic growth. As the ancient saying goes, "Rivers and seas do not refuse small streams, and that is how they become deep." If the inflow of rivers is deliberately cut off, even the vastest sea will eventually dry up. We should promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, unequivocally oppose protectionism, and work to make economic globalization more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all. We will sign high-standard free trade agreements with more countries, strengthen cooperation in customs, taxation, audit and supervision, establish a Belt and Road tax administration cooperation mechanism, and accelerate international mutual recognition cooperation on Authorized Economic Operators. We have also formulated the Guiding Principles on Financing the Development of the Belt and Road and released the Debt Sustainability Framework for Participating Countries of the Belt and Road Initiative, providing guidance for Belt and Road financing cooperation. This year, China will hold the second China International Import Expo, providing a broader platform for all parties to enter the Chinese market.
Innovation is a productive force; it makes enterprises stronger and nations more prosperous. We should follow the trend of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, jointly seize the opportunities of digitalization, networking and smart development, explore new technologies, new business forms and new models, find new growth drivers and development paths, and build a Digital Silk Road and an Innovation Silk Road. China will continue to implement the Belt and Road Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation Action Plan and work with all parties to advance the four measures of science and technology people-to-people exchanges, joint labs, science park cooperation and technology transfer. We will actively implement innovation talent exchange programs, supporting 5,000 Chinese and foreign innovation talents in exchanges, training and joint research over the next five years. We will also support enterprises of all countries in cooperating on the construction of information and communication infrastructure to enhance cyber connectivity.
Uneven development is the greatest imbalance in today's world. In the course of jointly building the Belt and Road, we should always view issues from a development perspective and integrate the concept of sustainable development into every aspect of project selection, implementation, and management. We need to strengthen international development cooperation to create more development opportunities and space for developing countries, help them eradicate poverty, and achieve sustainable development. To this end, we have worked with all parties to establish the Belt and Road Sustainable Cities Alliance and the International Green Development Coalition, formulated the Green Investment Principles for the Belt and Road, and launched a cooperation initiative on "Caring for Children, Sharing Development, and Promoting the Realization of the Sustainable Development Goals". We have launched the big data service platform for ecological and environmental protection under the Belt and Road cooperation, and will continue to implement the Green Silk Road Envoys Program. Together with relevant countries, we will implement the Belt and Road South-South Cooperation Program on Climate Change. We will also deepen cooperation in agriculture, health, disaster reduction, water resources, and other fields, and strengthen cooperation with the United Nations in the field of development to narrow the development gap.
We should actively build bridges for mutual learning among different civilizations, deepen people-to-people cooperation in education, science, culture, sports, tourism, health, archaeology, and other fields, strengthen exchanges among parliaments, political parties, and non-governmental organizations, and increase interactions among women, youth, and people with disabilities, so as to form an interactive and multi-dimensional pattern of people-to-people exchanges. In the next five years, China will invite 10,000 representatives of political parties, think tanks, and non-governmental organizations from Belt and Road partner countries to China for exchanges. We will encourage and support social organizations in countries along the Belt and Road to extensively carry out cooperation on people's livelihood, jointly launch a series of training programs in environmental protection, anti-corruption, and other fields, and deepen cooperation in human resources development in various fields. We will continue to implement the Chinese Government Scholarship "Silk Road" Program, and hold events such as the Belt and Road Youth Creativity and Heritage Forum and the "Chinese Bridge" summer camp for young students. We will also establish mechanisms such as the Belt and Road International Think Tank Cooperation Committee and the Belt and Road News Alliance to pool the wisdom and strength of all parties.
Colleagues and friends!
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Seventy years ago, after generations of hard exploration, the Chinese people, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, founded the People's Republic of China. From then on, the Chinese people stood up, and their destiny has since been firmly in their own hands.
Through 70 years of arduous struggle, the Chinese people, based on their national conditions and through continuous exploration in practice, have blazed the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Today's China stands at a new historical starting point. We know full well that despite our brilliant achievements, there are still mountains to climb and rapids to cross ahead. We will continue to stride forward along the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, stay committed to deepening reform comprehensively, pursue high-quality development, expand opening up, follow the path of peaceful development, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
Going forward, China will take a series of major reform and opening-up measures, strengthen institutional and structural arrangements, and promote opening up to a higher level.
First, we will expand market access for foreign investment in more areas. Fair competition improves efficiency and brings prosperity. China has implemented the management model of pre-establishment national treatment plus a negative list. Going forward, we will continue to significantly shorten the negative list, promote all-round opening up of modern services, manufacturing, and agriculture, and allow foreign investors to hold controlling stakes or operate wholly foreign-owned businesses in more sectors. We will establish a new batch of pilot free trade zones and accelerate exploration of free trade ports. We will speed up the formulation of supporting laws and regulations to ensure strict implementation of the Foreign Investment Law. We will use fair competition and open cooperation to advance domestic supply-side structural reform, effectively phase out backward and excess production capacities, and improve the quality and efficiency of the supply system.
Second, we will strengthen international cooperation on intellectual property protection with greater intensity. Without innovation, there is no progress. Strengthening intellectual property protection is not only necessary to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of domestic and foreign enterprises, but also an inherent requirement for building an innovative country and pursuing high-quality development. China will strive to create a business environment that respects the value of knowledge, fully improve the legal framework for intellectual property protection, greatly intensify law enforcement, strengthen the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of foreign intellectual property holders, eliminate forced technology transfer, improve trade secret protection, and crack down on intellectual property infringement in accordance with the law. China is ready to strengthen intellectual property protection cooperation with other countries, create a favorable environment for innovation, and promote technological exchanges and cooperation with other countries on the basis of market principles and the rule of law.
Third, we will increase imports of goods and services on a larger scale. China is not only the "world factory", but also the "world market". China has the world's largest and fastest growing middle-income group, with enormous potential for consumption growth. To meet the people's ever-growing material and cultural needs and increase consumer choice and welfare, we will further lower tariff levels, remove various non-tariff barriers, and open China's market wider to high-quality products from all over the world. We do not deliberately pursue a trade surplus and are willing to import more competitive high-quality agricultural products, manufactured goods, and services from other countries to promote balanced trade development.
Fourth, we will implement international macroeconomic policy coordination more effectively. A globalized economy calls for global governance. China will strengthen macroeconomic policy coordination with other major economies, strive to create positive spillover effects, and jointly promote strong, sustainable, balanced, and inclusive growth of the world economy. China will not resort to beggar-thy-neighbor currency devaluation. We will continue to improve the RMB exchange rate formation mechanism, let the market play a decisive role in resource allocation, keep the RMB exchange rate basically stable at a reasonable and balanced level, and promote stability of the world economy. Rules and credibility are the cornerstone of an effectively functioning international governance system and the prerequisite for the development of international economic and trade relations. China actively supports and participates in the reform of the WTO and works with other parties to jointly build a higher-level set of international economic and trade rules.
Fifth, we will pay more attention to the implementation of opening-up policies. The Chinese people have always kept their word. We attach great importance to honoring multilateral and bilateral economic and trade agreements reached with other countries, strengthen the building of a law-based and credible government, establish a binding mechanism for the implementation of international agreements, revise and improve laws and regulations in line with the need to expand opening up, regulate the conduct of governments at all levels in administrative licensing and market supervision, and clean up and abolish unreasonable regulations, subsidies, and practices that impede fair competition and distort the market. We will treat all enterprises and business operators equally and improve the market-oriented, law-based, and convenient business environment.
China's measures to expand opening up are an independent choice made in light of the objective needs of its reform and development. They are conducive to promoting high-quality economic development, meeting the people's aspiration for a better life, and contributing to world peace, stability, and development. We also hope that countries around the world will create a sound investment environment, treat Chinese enterprises, students, and scholars equally, and provide a fair and friendly environment for their normal international exchanges and cooperation. We firmly believe that a more open China will interact with the world in a more positive way and bring about a more progressive and prosperous China and world.
Colleagues and friends!
Let us join hands, sow the seeds of cooperation, and together reap the fruits of development, so that people of all countries can live happier lives and the world becomes a better place!
May this summit be a complete success!
Thank you all.