Grand reception held for foreign experts working in China

A grand reception was held Monday at the Great Hall of the People for foreign experts working in China, on the eve of the 55th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

More than 1,800 guests attended, including 84 winners of the Friendship Award of 2004 and Chinese officials.

Chinese Vice Premier Huang Ju delivered a speech at the reception. He said that since the founding of the PRC, and especially since China instituted the reform and opening-up policy, China has made great achievement. The annual economic growth rate has averaged 9.4% over the past 25 years, he said, adding that the living standard of the Chinese has continued to improve.

Huang said that China's average per capital GDP hit 1000 US dollars last year and the economy increased 9.7% in the first half of 2004 thanks to the government's macroeconomic control policy. He said the country is very likely to realize the year's goal for economic development.

Huang said that foreign experts from all over the world have worked hard and made important contributions to China's modernization. Over the past half century, he said, a total of more than 2,100,000 foreign experts worked in China. In the past two years, the annual number of foreign experts working on the Chinese mainland reached 240,000.

Huang said that in different historic periods, foreign experts played an important role. The Chinese people will never forget their contribution to the country's modernization drive, he said.

He said that China's modernization still faces difficult tasks. According to the goals set at the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), China will attain the grand objective of building a relatively well-off society in an all-around way by 2020, with the GDP quadrupling that of 2000 and average per capital GDP reaching 3,000 US dollars.

The Fourth Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee has decided to improve the party's ruling ability and to push forward modernization, Huang said, adding that China will take economic development as its core task, improve the socialist market economy, and enhance macroeconomic control so as to promote the sustainable development of the economy.

Huang said China needs talents in all fields to create a well-off society and speed up the modernization drive, and China will stick to the policy of respecting work, knowledge, talent and creativity. He expressed welcome to foreign experts participating in China's modernization drive.