China promises foreign CEOs better trade climate

Premier Li Keqiang (center right) and his Maltese counterpart Joseph Muscat witness signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding on cooperation over the midterm from 2014 to 2019 that was inked by Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Zhang Yesui (right) and Maltese Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech in Beijing on Wednesday. Xu Jingxing / China Daily

China will further its opening-up and reform policies to provide more opportunities for multinational companies, Premier Li Keqiang told visiting corporate executives of some Fortune Global 500 companies in Beijing on Wednesday.

Executives of Volkswagen, IBM, Siemens, Nokia and Standard Chartered Bank, among others, shared their ideas and proposals with Li during their meeting on China's economic growth, innovation, financial cooperation, environmental protection and reforms.

They were in Beijing to participate in the second annual Global CEO Council.

"Economic restructuring and upgrading is the key to the Chinese economy if we want to achieve healthy growth over the mid- to long term," Li said.

He said that China must move up the value chain and follow a much greener development path to break through the energy and resources bottlenecks the country is currently facing.

"We will strengthen the role of financial institutions in supporting development of a real economy, and at the same time guaranteeing financial security," he added.

Commenting on optimizing the relationship between government and market, the premier said China will further streamline administrative procedures and broaden market access while continuing to eradicate counterfeit products and violations of intellectual property rights to create fairer competition and stimulate innovation.

"China's deepening reform and broadened opening-up will provide multinational companies with more opportunities and room for development in China," he said.

Opportunities

Some of the companies at the meeting are among the European firms that have provided essential technological or financial support for China's ongoing economic restructuring. Li underscored the region's significance to China's economic development.

Also on Wednesday afternoon, Li met Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who will attend a three-day ecological forum in Guizhou province beginning on Thursday. Li said China would like to deepen its cooperation with the Mediterranean country in the trade, energy, infrastructure, marine economy and tourism sectors.

The two governments on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation from 2014 to 2019.

The Global CEO Council was initiated by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries in June 2013, to expand private diplomatic channels. The first council has 14 CEOs as its members.

Speaking on Wednesday with the Chinese premier, Jean-Pascal Tricoire, chairman and CEO of French industrial giant Schneider Electric, said China's achievements have boosted global economic development.

He praised the efforts by the Chinese government to push forward reforms, and said MNCs would like to expand their research and development scale in China along with increasing production to seek reciprocal benefits during China's economic upgrading and sustainable development.