"China's economy remains in good shape with a strong momentum for expansion," Hu said in a keynote address at the CEO Summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

He said the past year had witnessed some heartening signs in global economy, but many uncertainties persist before a steady growth can take hold.

"Given this background, government and business leaders of all countries must take it as their critical task to improve the environment for economic development and promote a sustained economic growth through effective policies and measures," the Chinese president said.

He listed a series of policies and measures taken by China in recent years to enhance its economic vitality and to promote a sustained social and economic development.

These included the furthering of market-oriented reforms; the expansion of domestic demand and a proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy; the implementation of the strategy of revitalization of the nation through science and education, that of sustainable development and that of developing the western region; intensified efforts in the development of public health, education and culture, the strengthening of the social security system and environmental protection and the promotion of social justice and progress; and the widening of all-dimensional openness to the outside world and the active participation in globalization and regional economic integration.

When the country reaches its goal for the first two decades of this century -- to build a well-off society of a higher standard in China for the benefit of its over 1 billion people -- China will have completed its industrialization by and large and put into place a well-developed socialist market economic system, Hu said.

However, "there are some outstanding problems in our economy that need to be tackled without delay, such as inadequate economic structure and industrial structure, mounting pressure of employment and social security and weakness in the protection of our ecosystem."

"We are taking some steps to address these problems," Hu said, expressing the belief that China will gradually translate its goals for modernization into reality and make greater contributions to regional and global economic development.

(People's Daily October 20, 2003)