Premier Li promotes wider market access

China offers a huge market and business opportunities to global investors during its continuous efforts to widen market access and deepen opening-up, Premier Li Keqiang said on Tuesday.

He made the remarks during a meeting with German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, who is leading a large economic and trade delegation to Beijing.

Saying that the world's second-largest economy has achieved stable and progressive economic expansion in the first quarter, Li said China eyes stable economic growth not only now but in the future.

To this end, China will continue to allow the market to play a better role in allocating resources, expand market access for investors, develop the use of clean energy resources and energy conservation technologies as well as carry out people-oriented urbanization.

All this will bring a huge market and business opportunities for global companies, including those in Germany, Li said.

China has reported first-quarter GDP growth of 7.4 percent year-on-year, beating market expectations of 7.2 percent to 7.3 percent.

Gabriel, who is also German economic affairs and energy minister, said his country is keen to "accompany and support" China as Beijing proceeds with deepened reforms. He said he hopes China will become a destination for German investment and technology exports.

Gabriel also met with Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng in Beijing on Tuesday.

Gao told the German delegation that China pays a high degree of attention to ecological problems encountered during industrialization, such as energy, land and water resources, and the two sides can see huge potential for cooperation in this field.

It is the second German delegation to visit China this month, with Li also meeting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on April 15.

During his visit, Steinmeier traveled to Hebei province, home to heavy industries such as steel, coal and glass, and a major source of air pollution in northern China.

Steinmeier said Germany wanted to share its experience with China, because it had experienced a similar economic and social transition.