Xi Yanchun:

Thank you very much for your introduction. Now let us invite Mr. Long Guoqiang.

Long Guoqiang:

I would like to complement Mr. Qian's introduction.

I've summarized the world trade environment and China's foreign trade into the following categories.

First, the world economy and trade is recovering while protectionism is rising. As global economic growth accelerates, international organizations, such as the IMF, have revised upwards their forecasts for global growth. Primary commodity prices have seen a marked year-on-year increase and the growth rate of world commodity trade is increasing. We must admit that the improving world economic environment has strongly driven China's foreign trade.

However, at the same time, some major economies, which have long advocated free trade, are attributing problems, such as inequality, to economic globalization. Therefore, there is a policy shift in those economies with trade protectionism gaining popularity. These changes will have a deep influence on globalization and the trend of the future world economy.

Second, the growth is increasing in China's foreign trade but there is a decreasing amount of cross-border investment. In the first half of this year, China's foreign trade reached a fast growth rate of 19.6 percent. The growth rate of exports to emerging markets outpaced that to traditional ones, and the growth rate of mechanical and electrical products was higher than that of labor-intensive products. New foreign trade models are outpacing the traditional ones.

Meanwhile, cross-border investment declined while foreign investment remained stable though there was a 0.1 percent decrease if calculated in RMB. Outbound investment decreased by 42.9 percent, with some irrational investments being reined in.

Third, China's opening-up policy has spread pervasively while foreign-funded enterprises are lagging behind. The Chinese government insists on the basic state policy of opening-up and issued a series of policies focusing on improving the business climate.

On July 17, 2017, President Xi Jinping presided over a central finance leading group meeting on improving the business climate and expanding the scope of opening-up. In January, the State Council promulgated the Notice on Several Measures to Expand Opening-up and Make Active Use of Foreign Investments, also known as the Twenty Articles to Attract Foreign Investment.

On July 28, the State Council issued several specific measures to deploy more efforts for introducing foreign investments and create a more open environment. Meanwhile, China has been promoting the market conditions with equal treatment of domestic and foreign investments and fair play. China's efforts to further open up have been highly praised at home and abroad, especially positively praised by many foreign-funded enterprises.

However, my study on a large number of foreign-funded enterprises shows that some of them lack a thorough knowledge of the great developments in the policy of China expanding its opening-up to better utilize foreign investment. Moreover, large enterprises take time to make decisions, that's why some foreign-funded enterprises lagged behind in response in the first half of this year.

We need to make improve policy interpretation to encourage their confidence. However, it must be noted that China is one of the most important investment destinations for foreign-funded enterprises. As shown in various surveys including the white papers by the American Chamber of Commerce and the European Union Chamber of Commerce, a large number of multi-national enterprises have regarded China as one of their most important investment destinations for the future.

China will continue to open further to the outside world. From the 2016 G20 Hangzhou summit to the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation; from the keynote speech by President Xi Jinping at the 2017 World Economic Forum to the keynote speech made by Premier Li Keqiang at the Summer Davos Forum; all demonstrate China's policy and wisdom in supporting global economic development and improving the global economic governance system.

On policymaking, China puts building an international and market-oriented business environment governed by law as the priority. We will expand market access for foreign investors and push forward the Belt and Road construction, and the negotiations of free trade zone and bilateral investment treaty, in a bid to further liberalize and facilitate trade and investment.

As to policy implementation, China will maintain a steady growth in foreign trade and continue to optimize the structure in the second half of the year. Cross-border investment will be continuing on a large scale. China will still be the most important host country and source of cross-border investment.

That's all, thank you. We're pleased to take your questions, thanks.

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