Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with delegates attending the third Understanding China Conference including former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo,former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister of Denmark Helle Thorning-Schmidt, former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou and former Director-General of the World Trade Organization Pascal Lamy in Beijing on December 17, 2018.

Li noted that 2018 coincided with the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up. Over the past 40 years, China has achieved remarkable development progress, which was fueled by the Chinese people’s hard work.

China will continue to deepen reform,further open up and commit itself to developing an open economy at higher level, he said, reiterating China’s stance to create a fair business environment for domestic and foreign companies and strictly protect intellectual property rights.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (center) meets with delegates attending the third Understanding China Conference in Beijing on December 17, 2018.

The Chinese premier said that in the complex international situation, people should adhere to multilateralism and free trade while addressing problems related to globalization and world trade from a development perspective.

Stressing that China would remain a developing country for a long time, Li called on the world to truly understand China,expressing hope that the delegates could serve as a bridge of communication and cooperation between China and the world and make greater contributions to the common development of China and the world.

Delegates congratulated China on its achievements in various fields such as economic development, poverty relief and education, declaring that all countries should work together to promote the reform and improvement of global rules and safeguard multilateralism and free trade.

The three-day conference, which kicked off on December 16, 2018, gathered nearly 600 people including 40 global politicians,strategists and entrepreneurs.