Speech at the opening ceremony of the 15th Summer Davos Forum

On June 25, Premier Li Qiang attended the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Davos Forum in Dalian and delivered a speech.

Dear President Duda,

Dear Prime Minister Fan Minh Zheng,

Dear Chairman Schwab,

Dear heads of international organizations,

Dear guests, ladies, gentlemen, friends:

It is a great pleasure to gather with all old and new friends in beautiful Dalian to attend the 15th Summer Davos Forum. First of all, on behalf of the Chinese government, I would like to express my warm congratulations on the convening of the annual meeting! I would like to extend my sincere welcome to all guests and media friends!

This is the second time that the Summer Davos Forum is held in Dalian after a lapse of five years. Looking back on the past five years, a century of changes have accelerated, and the world's economic development is facing an important juncture. Where to go in the future is a matter of general concern to people. The theme of this annual meeting is "New Frontiers of Future Growth" and has strong practical relevance. I believe that everyone has certain thoughts and experiences on the significance and value of exploring new frontiers of growth. Here, I have three thoughts that I would like to share with you.

First, face up to the current growth dilemma facing the world economy. In the past few years since the epidemic, the world economic recovery has been difficult. According to forecasts from the International Monetary Fund and other institutions, the world economy may maintain medium-to-low growth in the next few years, generally lower than the pre-epidemic level. The lack of momentum for world economic growth is not only affected by phased factors such as the impact of the epidemic, high inflation, and intensified debt, but also closely related to some deep-seated contradictions and problems. From a long-term perspective, since the 1760s, three industrial revolutions, represented by steam engines, electricity, and information technology, have greatly changed human production and lifestyle. After each industrial revolution, the world economy has ushered in a round of explosive growth. period. At the same time, as the momentum released by existing technological models weakens, world economic growth will gradually enter a bottleneck period. The impact of this intrinsic change is multi-faceted. On the macro level, it is reflected in the slowdown of economic growth and the pie of the world economy is no longer so easy to grow; on the macro level, it is reflected in the decline in investment income and the weakening of economies of scale. More and more commercial areas have changed from "blue seas" to "red seas"; on the micro level, competition among different entities has intensified and "involvements" have increased. The competition based on existing resources has also led to problems such as the rise of anti-globalization and the intensification of geopolitical conflicts to a certain extent.

Faced with the growth dilemma of the world economy, if countries only consider maximizing their own interests and ignore the interests of others, and even hesitate to "reverse history" and engage in "decoupling and breaking links" and "small courtyards and high walls", it will only raise economic operation costs, sever economic ties between regions, intensify conflicts and disputes, and drag countries around the world into a vicious cycle of competing for the cake and the cake becomes smaller and smaller. Chinese people often say that "the scenery should be long-term and long-term." In this case, the correct choice should be to approach development issues with a higher vision and a broader mind, and seek one's own reasonable interests in jointly making a big cake. It not only injects lasting impetus into the world economy, but also opens up a new world for its own development.

Second, seize the new opportunities of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation. Getting rid of the growth dilemma requires opening up new power sources. We are pleased to see that a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation are developing in depth. Global scientific and technological innovation is unprecedentedly intensive and active. Many fields have lit up the stars, and new frontiers of future growth have begun to emerge. From a technical perspective, this round of scientific and technological revolution takes intelligence, green, and health as its main directions. The rapid development of new generation information technology, energy technology, biotechnology, etc. not only explores new paths to deal with major challenges in human society such as climate change and the energy crisis, but also significantly improves the quality and efficiency of the supply system, leading and creating new huge demands. From an industrial perspective, cutting-edge technologies have made breakthroughs and integrated each other at multiple points, profoundly changed traditional production functions, promoted a new and significant leap in productivity levels, and spawned new fields and new tracks such as artificial intelligence, green energy, and biomedicine. It is expected to cultivate multiple pillar industries with a scale of more than one trillion US dollars. From the perspective of business models, in line with the scientific and technological revolution, economic and industrial organization methods have accelerated their evolution, showing the characteristics of platform, networking, and ubiquitous. New business formats and new models such as online services, reverse customization, and intelligent manufacturing have emerged rapidly., making our lives more convenient and providing fair and accessible opportunities for everyone to participate in it. In general, a number of cutting-edge technologies and industries with explosive potential are on the verge of being unveiled and turning into butterflies, bringing light and hope to the world economy entering a new round of upward growth.

Faced with the tide of world scientific and technological and industrial development, all countries are making forward-looking plans and arrangements, and China has also made active explorations. Over the years, we have continued to promote high-quality development, accelerate the development of new productive forces, and cultivate and expand new driving forces. This has not only added strong impetus to China's economic development, but also created greater space for cooperation for enterprises from various countries. The rapid rise of China's new industries conforms to the general trend of global scientific and technological revolution and green development. We seize the favorable opportunity of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, vigorously promote scientific and technological innovation, and encourage enterprises to take the lead in layout and continue to invest in cutting-edge fields. After years of irrigation and cultivation, a number of enterprises and industries with international advanced levels have stood out. In particular, we are committed to being an activist in addressing climate change, unswervingly advancing the "double carbon" goal, and actively developing green industries such as new energy. China's installed capacity of hydropower, wind power, photovoltaics, and nuclear power under construction has ranked first in the world for many years in a row, and the proportion of installed capacity of renewable energy exceeds 50%. Electric vehicles, lithium batteries, photovoltaic products, etc. produced by Chinese companies first ensure domestic demand, but also enrich international market supply, alleviate world inflationary pressure, and make positive contributions to the global response to climate change. The rapid rise of China's new industries is rooted in its unique comparative advantages. China has a ultra-large market of more than 1.4 billion people, a complete industrial supporting system, rich human resources, and diversified application scenarios. Coupled with consumers 'high acceptance of new technologies, it has established a broad platform for enterprise innovation and product iteration. The continued emergence of economies of scale can effectively dilute corporate innovation costs and accommodate the competitive growth of different technology routes and business models. This is also the root cause of the strong competitiveness of China's emerging industries. The rapid rise of new industries in China has demonstrated the main role of enterprises in innovation. Enterprises are at the forefront of the market, have the sharpest perception of changes in demand, and have the strongest desire to innovate. We strive to create a market-oriented, legal and international business environment, eliminate unreasonable regulations that restrict market access and fair competition, promote the gathering of various innovative elements to enterprises, vigorously promote excellent entrepreneurship, and promote the full release of enterprise innovation vitality. The Chinese market is a large open market. Multinational companies and local companies compete on the same stage and communicate and cooperate on a fair track, becoming an important force in promoting the development and growth of emerging industries from scratch. The rapid growth of new industries and new driving forces has strongly supported the sustained and healthy development of China's economy. Since the beginning of this year, China's economy has maintained a positive trend. In the first quarter, it grew by 5.3% year-on-year, achieving a good start. In the second quarter, it continues to be stable and improving. We are confident and capable of achieving the annual growth target of around 5%.

Third, open up a broad blue ocean for future economic development. Faced with the major opportunities of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, we will always grasp the general direction of building an open world economy, take advantage of the momentum, boldly explore, and jointly create new development space. I take this opportunity to propose four initiatives.

The first is to deepen scientific and technological exchanges and cooperation. Scientific and technological elements are key variables that affect future development, and major scientific and technological progress often comes from continuous research accumulation and extensive cooperation. In the process of opening up new frontiers, it should not be a zero-sum game where you lose and I win, but a joint growth where you chase and catch up. The high walls of the courtyard cannot contain the development of your opponent, but will only trap your own hands and feet. On the basis of protecting intellectual property rights, we should create an open, fair and non-discriminatory environment for scientific and technological innovation, so that all sources of innovation and creation can fully flow.

The second is to build a solid foundation for green development. Humanity has only one earth, and future growth will first be the growth of harmonious coexistence between man and nature. We should adhere to the goals and framework of principles set out in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Paris Agreement, follow the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, fulfill our respective emission reduction responsibilities, and must not slow down the pace of green transformation for the sake of temporary economic growth, nor must we practice trade protectionism in the name of "green environmental protection". Green transformation itself also contains huge development potential. We should jointly promote the development of green and low-carbon industries and create more green economic growth points.

The third is to maintain an open market environment. The history of world economic development proves that openness brings progress, and closure leads to backwardness. Only by interacting and learning from each other's strengths in openness can we continuously expand the boundaries of development and discover and open up new frontiers. It can be said that the depth of international cooperation supports the height of human development. We should open our minds and work closely together, abandon camp opposition, oppose decoupling and disconnection, maintain the stability and smoothness of industrial and supply chains, promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, guide and promote the healthy development of globalization, and gather strong synergy for world economic growth.

The fourth is to promote inclusive and inclusive development. While new technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data promote economic growth, they may also cause problems such as structural unemployment, intensifying polarization between rich and poor, and the technological and intelligent divide. We should coordinate development and governance, promptly improve relevant legal and governance frameworks in response to rule conflicts and social risks brought about by the development of cutting-edge technologies and industries, and strive to achieve development with broader benefits and more inclusiveness. Provide education and training for vulnerable groups, improve workers 'skills, and let innovation results benefit more countries and people.

Ladies and gentlemen, friends!

There is no end to development and no end to exploration. We are willing to work with other countries to work together and set sail to jointly push the giant ship of the world economy into the vast blue ocean and create a better future for human society!

I wish this annual meeting a complete success!

Thank you all!

(Xinhua Agency, Dalian, June 25)

People's Daily (June 26, 2024, 04 edition)