Pursuit of reform and opening-up emphasized during Shanghai visit

President Xi Jinping stressed the need for firm determination and full confidence during the nation’s reform and opening-up on his two-day inspection tour in Shanghai, which concluded on Wednesday.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, urged the city to continue to play a pioneering role in the country’s reform and opening-up and serve as a forerunner in innovative development.

Xi started the tour after he attended the opening ceremony of the China International Import Expo in Shanghai on Monday.

He visited enterprises, communities, the city’s operation and management center and the high-tech park in the Pudong New Area. He also interacted with company managers, government officials and residents, and learned of the economic situation, technological innovation and city and community management in Shanghai.

Xi said the external environment of China’s development is undergoing marked changes and the country’s economy has transitioned from high-speed growth to high-quality development.

He said the country is facing increasing difficulties in economic development resulting from unbalanced and insufficient development as well as some cyclical, structural and institutional problems.

Strategic focus must be maintained to achieve the goals that the country has set, Xi said.

Noting that Shanghai has maintained its crucial role in the country, Xi urged the city to make greater contributions to China’s reform and opening-up.

He called on Shanghai to make all-out efforts to advance national strategies such as construction of the Belt and Road and development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and take the lead in promoting high-quality and integrated development in the Yangtze River Delta.

Priority should be given to high-quality development in the real economy, Xi said.

He added that efforts should be stepped up to strengthen integrated development of the real economy, technological innovation, modern financing and human resources so as to improve the influence and competitive edge of Shanghai.

Xi called for concrete steps to deepen reforms in such fields as State-owned capital and enterprises and the private economy and capital markets.

He also called for building a business environment that is first class internationally, and for vigorously advancing to an even higher level all-around opening-up.

Xi was shown achievements in frontier technologies in the fields of photonics, aviation and aerospace, life science and integrated circuits at the exhibition hall of Zhangjiang Science City, a national-level technological innovation center in the city’s Pudong New Area.

Speaking to scientists at the exhibition hall, Xi highlighted the nation’s urgent need for more scientific and technological innovations, and he urged them to seize opportunities to strive for more major breakthroughs in technological innovation.

Visiting Shanghai Tower — at 632 meters, the nation’s tallest skyscraper — Xi recalled the history of the city’s development in recent decades and said Shanghai vividly demonstrates the astounding changes that have taken place in China since its reform and opening-up.

The landmark building in Lujiazui, the financial center of the Pudong New Area, was approved by Xi when he was the secretary of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee in 2007.

During his tour, Xi also met with senior military officers stationed in Shanghai.