Li Keqiang Attends the World Economic Forum Special Dialogue with Global Business Leaders

On the evening of July 19, 2022, Premier Li Keqiang attended the World Economic Forum (WEF) Special Virtual Dialogue with Global Business Leaders, delivered a speech, interacted and communicated with business representatives at the Great Hall of the People. Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab of the WEF presided over the special virtual dialogue, and nearly 400 businessmen from more than 50 countries attended the dialogue.

Li Keqiang said, the current international and regional situation is undergoing profound and complex evolution, and various challenges and uncertainties have increased significantly. President Xi Jinping stated in his address at the 2022 World Economic Forum Virtual Session that China will stay committed to reform and opening-up. A peaceful and stable environment is a prerequisite for development. China is ready to work with all parties to uphold the international system with the United Nations at its core, practice multilateralism and jointly safeguard world peace and tranquility. It is a common and urgent task for all parties to promote the stable growth of the world economy. All countries should strengthen macroeconomic policy coordination, ensure the stable supply of food and energy, and keep industrial and supply chains secure and smooth. All countries should strengthen solidarity and cooperation, firmly maintain and promote economic globalization, deepen bilateral and multilateral international cooperation, and promote balanced, inclusive and sustainable development that benefits all.

When introducing China's economic situation, Li Keqiang said, affected by a new round of pandemic and other unexpected factors, the economic downward pressure increased sharply in the second quarter of this year, and the main indicators fell deeply in April. We took decisive action and prompt control to put stable growth in a more prominent position. We refrained from resorting to a deluge of strong stimulus policies, pushed the existing policies to produce effects early on, and launched and implemented a package of 33 policies and measures to stabilize the economy. The downward momentum of major economic indicators slowed down in May. In June, the economy rebounded steadily, and its main indicators rebounded relatively quickly from negative to positive. The surveyed urban unemployment rate dropped significantly, driving the economy in the second quarter to achieve positive growth. We are also clearly aware that the foundation of economic recovery is not yet solid, and maintaining stable economic performance still requires arduous efforts.

Li Keqiang stressed that China, as the world's largest developing country, has huge development potential. We will fully implement the new development philosophy, efficiently coordinate pandemic prevention and control and economic and social development, motivate all sectors, and uphold that for China, development is the foundation and key to overcoming all challenges, so as to promote economic operation to return to the normal track as soon as possible. Keeping major economic indicators within an appropriate range is mainly supported by stable employment and prices. Since 2020, the policies we have implemented in response to major shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic are reasonable in scale, without "flooding" the economy with mass stimulus policies, and create conditions for preventing inflation. This year's summer grain has increased production and a bumper harvest, reaching a record high. Autumn grain production represents sound momentum, and coal and electricity supply is stable, which lays the foundation for domestic prices to run smoothly and also contributes to global food and energy market stability. China has more than 160 million market entities, and intelligent and hardworking people, which provides the greatest resilience and self-assurance for economic development. In recent years, we directly respond to the needs of market entities when implementing macro policies, and stabilize employment and increase personal income by stabilizing market entities. We will maintain the continuity and pertinence of macro policies, and continue to focus on assisting market entities to relieve difficulties and sustain themselves for economic development. Macro policies are not only precise and powerful, but also reasonable and appropriate, without introducing super large-scale stimulus measures, excessive money supply, or sacrificing future interests for the sake of excessive growth targets. We must be fully aware of the situation on the ground and make utmost efforts to strive to achieve a better level of economic development throughout the year. The package of detailed policy measures to stabilize growth still have considerable room to play an effective role. The VAT credit refunds in the first half of the year have exceeded 1.8 trillion yuan and the continued implementation of the policy will further expand the actual scale of refunding VAT credits; the actual use of special-purpose bonds for local governments and the use of newly issued policy-backed and development-oriented financial instruments will form effective investment in more physical workload and hence boost employment and consumption. We will stay committed to adding momentum through reform, and deepen reforms to streamline administration and delegate power, improve regulation, and upgrade services, so as to further stimulate market vitality and social creativity.

Li Keqiang pointed out that China's economy has been deeply integrated into the world, and opening up to the outside world is China's fundamental state policy. China's development cannot be separated from the world, the world's development also needs China. We will deepen high-standard opening up to the outside world, adhere to free and fair trade, and pursue parallel progress in the two "wheels" of multilateral and regional trade cooperation. We will continue to foster a market- and law-based and internationalized business environment, ensure equal access of foreign enterprises to open areas in accordance with the law, and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results in fair competition. We are willing to strengthen international cooperation in the fight against the pandemic, achieve more targeted and science-based prevention and control under the premise of ensuring the safety of pandemic prevention, continue to optimize the visa, testing and other prevention and control policies, further promote orderly resumption and increase of international passenger flights, advance outbound business and trade and cross-border employment activities in a prudent and orderly manner, and better promote personnel exchanges between China and foreign countries as well as communication and cooperation with other countries.

Li Keqiang also answered questions from representatives of foreign entrepreneurs on the sound and stable development of China-U.S. relations, addressing climate change, prospects for manufacturing development, and consumption policies, among others.

Xiao Jie and He Lifeng attended the above event.