Shanghai, Nov. 5 (INP): China's imported goods and services are estimated to exceed 30 trillion US dollars and 10 trillion US dollars, respectively, in the next 15 years.

This was stated by President Xi Jinping while addressing the China International Import Expo (CIIE) opened here on Monday.

While reiterating his country’s strong commitment towards overall well-being of the entire human, he announced that China will continue to make it best efforts for opening up and reform by new initiatives.

Xi told an audience of national, financial and business leaders at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai that China would continue to broaden market access to foreign companies and pledged to create a world-class business environment.

China has implemented a series of recent tariff cuts and the CIIE is regarded as a symbol of the country's determination to increase imports and further open its markets.

Xi stressed that openness and cooperation were essential to global progress and that multilateralism was vital to counter growing risks and challenges.

China has embraced the world, Xi said, and the world has benefited from China's opening up, but economic globalization faces headwinds and multilateralism and free trade are under threat.

The Chinese president warned that the "practices of the law of the jungle and the winner takes all only represent a dead end" and stressed that inclusive growth, not protectionism, was the only route to prosperity for all. "Openness brings progress, seclusion leads to backwardness," he added.

He emphasized that innovation was the most important engine for development, and called for cooperation on digital, artificial intelligence and nanotechnology.

Xi acknowledged that the Chinese economy faced challenges but said those issues were being addressed and that the outlook was positive for continued steady development.

Likening China's economy to an ocean, Xi said China will inevitably face occasional storms but will always be able to weather them.

Forty years on from the start of China's reform and opening up process, Xi listed a series of areas in which the door would be opened wider to foreign companies and investment.

Xi said China would stimulate the potential for increased imports, not as a choice of expediency, but as an essential decision for the future. Proactive measures will be taken to increase people's incomes and their spending power, he said, to cultivate new areas of domestic consumption.

He added that more efforts would be made to facilitate customs clearance, lower tariffs and step up cross-border e-commerce.

China has shortened the negative list on foreign investment and is steadily increasing the openness of financial and service sectors as well as working on agriculture, mining and manufacturing sectors, Xi said.

China's medical and education markets will also be opened to foreign businesses and capital.

A world-class business environment, protecting the rights of foreign companies and ensuring equal access, would be implemented, Xi said, adding that intellectual property protection will be strictly enforced and punitive measures will be in place for any violators.

Xi added that new horizons for opening up will be explored by advancing free trade zones and ports, and international cooperation will be further promoted through mechanisms like the Belt and Road Initiative. He pledged to speed up negotiations on the China-EU investment agreement and a China-Japan-Republic of Korea free trade area.

The Chinese president also announced new measures to ensure Shanghai can play a greater role in the opening up process, including setting up new districts of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone.

The CIIE is the first ever Chinese fair focusing exclusively on imported foreign goods and services and the world's first import-themed national exhibition.

More than 3,600 companies from over 172 countries and regions are attending the event from November 5 to 10, seeking a slice of the huge Chinese consumer market. Over 400,000 foreign and Chinese buyers are expected to pursue deals at the CIIE.

 INP/JAVED