Li praises foreigners for help in opening-up

China will continue with supply-side structural reform and produce more appealing policies to attract foreign professionals to work here in an enhanced effort at opening-up further in 2018, Premier Li Keqiang said on Monday.

“With our country’s door to the world opening even wider, we will produce more appealing policies to attract foreign talents to work in China and provide more convenience for your lives here,” Li told a gathering of outstanding foreign experts working in China.

Ten days ahead of Chinese Lunar New Year, Li attended the annual event in the Great Hall of the People to send greetings and collect wisdom from more than 60 scholars and business leaders on achieving high-quality development, smart manufacturing and improving the quality of higher education.

Li expressed his gratitude on behalf of the Chinese government to foreign experts in China for their contribution to the country’s progress of modernization and reform.

Noting that 2018 marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up policy, Li said the government will fully implement the five to 10 year visa policy for foreign experts and issue more favorable policies for foreigners working in China, including easing terms of applications for permanent residency.

He said that under the Communist Party of China’s strong leadership, with General Secretary Xi Jinping as the core, China’s economy remained in good health in 2017, with a better than expected annual growth rate of 6.9 percent, the first acceleration in annual growth in seven years, contributing to more than 30 percent of the world’s economic growth.

“The Chinese economy will not face drastic fluctuation, as