Full text of Premier Li's speech at New Champions 2017 annual meeting opening ceremony
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E-mail Xinhua, June 28, 2017
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Chinese economy has maintained a momentum of steady and sound growth this year. The first quarter saw 6.9% growth with marked improvement in economic performance, and major economic indicators have continued to move in a positive direction in the second quarter. Power generation, freight volume and new business orders have increased notably. Profits of industrial companies above the designated scale have increased at double-digit rates. Foreign exchange reserves have started to grow again, and the RMB exchange rate has been basically stable. In particular, employment has been strong with surveyed unemployment rate for urban areas falling to 4.91% in May, the lowest level in years. Citing the growing strength of new drivers and steady progress in economic rebalancing in China, a number of international organizations and research institutions have recently revised up China's growth forecasts, reflecting optimistic market expectations.
Pleased as we are with solid performance of economic indicators, we feel even more encouraged by valuable changes in our economic structure. In recent years, facing downward pressure, we did not resort to massive, indiscriminate stimulus measures or follow the previous pattern of excessive investment and resource consumption. Instead, we have kept readjusting our economic structure through reform and innovation and secured a major shift from too much reliance on export and investment to generating growth through consumption, the service sector and domestic demand. Last year, consumption became a primary growth driver, contributing 64.6% to economic growth; The added value of the service sector accounted for more than half, or 51.6% of GDP; Current account balance to GDP ratio dropped to 1.8%, showing that domestic demand has become a strong pillar of the economy. These major changes point to the qualitative improvement in the Chinese economy and have made our growth more stable and sustainable.
Having said that, we are also facing significant economic difficulties and challenges, which we are fully prepared to tackle. Given the complex and volatile external environment, short-term and marginal fluctuations of some economic indicators are inevitable at this crucial stage of transformation and upgrading of China's economy, but the overall trajectory of stability and growth will remain unchanged, and we are fully capable of fulfilling this year's main targets and tasks of development. We will stay committed to seeking progress while maintaining stability, accelerate economic transformation and upgrading through supply-side structural reform, and strengthen the internally-driven development.
We will deepen reform across the board and unleash greater dynamism of economic development. Reform will be stepped up in fiscal, taxation, financial, SOEs, state-owned asset and other key areas. Focus will be put on streamlining administration, delegating government powers, and cutting taxes and fees to lower institutional transaction costs and ease burdens on companies. Efforts will be made to expand market access, promote fair competition, provide better services, and remove investment and development barriers for private enterprises. Structural tax reduction policies will be implemented and charges on businesses overhauled. On top of the two trillion yuan worth of cuts in taxes and charges for businesses in previous years, we will introduce a further reduction of one trillion yuan this year, and make sure that market entities can truly feel the benefit of these measures.
We will continue to advance structural adjustments and accelerate the shift from old growth drivers to new ones. We will keep to innovation-driven development, seek greater progress in mass entrepreneurship and innovation, and push forward integrated innovation among large companies, SMEs, research institutions and makers. This will help foster new clusters of emerging industries, and encourage the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries with new technologies and new business forms. We will continue to cut excess capacity and phase out backward capacity in such areas as steel, coal and coal-fired power generation in a market- and law-based way. As China joins the ranks of middle-income countries, consumption is of crucial importance. Greater consumption will expand market potential in big ways and stimulate job creation. To upgrade consumption, we will keep improving the consumption environment, stimulate consumption demand and cultivate new areas of consumption. These measures will not only improve people's lives, but also provide new impetus to economic growth.
Proactive efforts will be made to expand opening-up and build a globally competitive business environment. We will move faster to develop a new, open economic system in keeping with economic globalization and the new industrial revolution. We will further ease market access in service and manufacturing sectors, relax foreign equity caps in some areas of interest, advance and improve the negative-list regulation model. Domestic and foreign companies are treated equally in the application of supportive policies. We will roll out measures to help them get registered at one-stop services and have their application handled within a time limit. We will encourage foreign-invested companies to reinvest their profits in China, support multinational companies in setting up regional headquarters in China, and encourage foreign investment in Central and Western China and old industrial bases such as Northeast China. In the coming five years, China will import US$8 trillion worth of goods. A Chinese economy which enjoys a sound momentum in the long run and becomes increasingly open will bring more opportunities to the rest of the world and remain the most attractive investment destination. We welcome businesses from across the world to invest in China and grow stronger with the Chinese economy.
We will step up efforts to prevent and control economic and financial risks and stave off systemic risks. Potential risks do exist in some areas, but they are generally under control. We are taking effective measures to tackle and remove them in a timely way. For China, the biggest risk is that of stalling growth. We will continue to take coordinated measures to prevent and address risks in the course of promoting economic development. With a relatively low government debt ratio among major economies and a relatively high savings rate, capital adequacy ratio of commercial banks and provision coverage ratio, we are fully capable of fending off risks and ensuring that the economy performs within a reasonable range, maintains medium-high growth rate and moves to the medium-high level.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As a Chinese saying goes, "The sea is vast as it admits all rivers." An inclusive world will be a more splendid place. We are ready to work with all countries to achieve inclusive growth in economic globalization and the new industrial revolution, build a community of shared future, and create an even brighter tomorrow for mankind.
To conclude, I wish this Annual Meeting a complete success.
Thank you.
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