Ladies and Gentlemen,
I know you all have a keen interest in China's economic outlook. Despite the weak recovery of and rising uncertainties in the global economy this year, the Chinese economy has performed steadily within a reasonable range. We are on track to attain around seven percent growth for the whole year and meet the main targets of economic and social development. This will lay the foundation for the Chinese economy to keep a medium-high growth rate and move to a medium-to-high level in the next stage.
The Chinese economy is moving steadily in the right direction. This trend will not change. In our vigorous efforts to promote structural reform and adjustment, we are working to foster twin engines of growth, i.e. promoting mass entrepreneurship and innovation and increasing public goods and services. We will unlock the dynamism of market players and creativity of the society by taking new approaches to streamline administration and delegate power, strengthening regulation and improving government services. The Chinese economy has great resilience, huge potential and ample room for readjustment. The upgrading of consumption of over 1.3 billion Chinese people will generate the largest market demand the world has ever seen. Parallel progress in the new type of industrialization, IT application, urbanization and agricultural modernization will further expand the space of development.
China is drafting its 13th five-year plan on economic and social development. It will adopt a new development approach featuring innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development to achieve its ambitious blueprint for a moderately prosperous society in all respects. In the next five years, annual growth rate needs to be kept above 6.5 percent. At this rate, our per capita GDP will reach around 12,000 U.S. dollars by 2020. That will be close to the level of high-income countries according to World Bank standard and allow us to basically avoid the middle-income trap. If achieved, it will mark another milestone in China's modernization process, offer even more development opportunities for CEEC and other countries, and make new contribution to global economic recovery and world peace, stability and prosperity. China will open up at a higher level, promote our equipment, technologies, standards and services around the world, and ease market access in finance, education, health care, old-age care and other fields. As we open up even wider, we would be happy to see CEE countries share in the dividends of China's prosperity and development.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
A proverb in CEE countries says that the faint-hearted will always wait at the foot of the hill, and only the brave can climb to the top. And a Chinese saying goes that one should have the commitment and lose no opportunity to make achievements. Now, the good opportunity of China-CEEC cooperation is within reach. I hope that the business leaders present today will seize the opportunity and work together to open up new prospects for win-win cooperation between China and Europe.
I wish the Fifth China-CEEC Economic and Trade Forum a complete success.
Thank you.
