President calls for countries'joint efforts in building Belt， Road in forum speech

President Xi Jinping pledged on April 26 to takestrong measures such as easing market access forforeign capital and increasing imports to promote thehigher-level opening-up of the country.

While delivering the keynote speech at theopening ceremony of the Second Belt and RoadForum for International Cooperation in Beijing， Xisaid that the purpose of building the Belt and Roadis to achieve win-win cooperation and commondevelopment.

China will increase imports of goods and serviceson a larger scale， and it will further lower its tariffrates， Xi said.

Noting that China has the world's biggest middle-income population， Xi said that China would open upits market continuously and welcome quality productsfrom around the world.

China does not pursue a trade surplusintentionally， and it would like to import morecompetitive farm products， finished products andservices to promote the balance of trade， Xi said.

China will promote greater openness in modernservices， manufacturing and agriculture， allow foreigncapital to hold the controlling share in more areas andbuild some new free trade pilot zones to further easemarket access for foreign capital， he said.

China will speed up making relevant rules andregulations and ensure the implementation of theForeign Investment Law， Xi said， adding that thecountry will push forward supply-side structuralreform through fair competition and internationalcooperation.

Xi said China's moves to boost opening-up followfrom an independent choice based on the objectiveneed ofthe country's reform and development.

This is helpful in promoting high-quality growth，meeting the people's needs for a better life andpromoting peace， stability and development of theworld， he said.

China also hopes that other countries will createa good investment environment， treat Chineseenterprises， students and scholars equally and createa friendly environment for their normal internationalexchange activities， Xi said

Xi pledged to take stronger measures to promoteinternational cooperation in protecting intellectualproperty， which he said is not only crucial toprotecting the legal rights of companies but also topromoting high-quality growth.

China will enhance policy coordination with theworld's major economic entities and jointly promotethe robust， sustainable， balanced and inclusive growthof the global economy， he said.

Xi stressed the importance of fulfilling bilateraland multilateral trade agreements， saying that Chinesepeople value a promise as much as tons of gold.

China pays close attention to building a law-basedgovernment， abolishing improper rules， subsidies andactivities that undermine fair competition and treatingall enterprises equally， Xi said.

The president highlighted building infrastructureof high quality， sustainability， risk resilience，reasonable pricing， inclusiveness and accessibilityunder the Belt and Road Initiative.

Infrastructure is a bottleneck in the development of many nations， Xi said，and building infrastructure can help countries give full play to their advantages inresources and better integrate into the global supply， industry and value chains.

Xi called on countries to uphold multilateralism， promote green developmentand fight corruption with zero tolerance in the process of building the Belt andRoad.

China welcomes financial institutions around the world to participate infinancing Belt and Road projects， Xi said， adding that multiple participants willbring common benefits.

Xi announced that China will support 5，000 people from innovative sectorsin Belt and Road countries in conducting exchanges， training programs and jointresearchin the next five years.

Xi called for joint efforts to facilitate trade and investment and opposeprotectionism， saying that the flow of products， funds， technology and people canpropel forces for economic growth.

According to Xi， more than 150 countries and intemational organizations havesigned cooperation documents to jointly build the Belt and Road.

The BRI has opened new space for global economic growth and built a newplatform for international trade and investment， Xi said.