Ladies and gentleman, good afternoon. I'm very pleased to be here and share with you my views on China's economy and the opportunities China can provide to foreign companies.

The first point I want to make is that the Chinese Government is fully confident in China's economic development. The slowdown of China's economy in recent years was largely the result of policy adjustment by the Chinese Government. Its purpose is to focus more on improving the quality of economy rather than growth speed. Generally speaking, today, China's economy is sound and stable. The annual growth rate has been maintained at around 7.5%. The Government is comfortable with this kind of growth speed, especially because the employment situation has been good and the inflation rate is kept quite low. Main economic data for the first quarter as recently released is better than market expectation. There is certainly no such possibility of the so-called "hard landing" of the Chinese economy in the foreseeable future as suggested by some economists.

The second point is that the Chinese Government has all the ability to deal with the economic difficulties China is experiencing. The most outstanding problems confronting China's economy include overcapacity of production in certain industrial sectors, real estate bubbles in some parts of the country, ill-managed shadow banking and rising local government debts. The Government is fully aware of those problems and is adopting proper measures to handle them. Especially, the Government is seeking solutions to all the economic problems through deepening reforms in a comprehensive way, and more than 360 reform measures were already planned. The Government is firmly determined to carry out these reforms. We shall not have any doubt on the resolve of the Chinese Government in this regard.

The third point I want to make is that China will continue to provide huge opportunities to foreign companies in many aspects. First, China remains a most popular destination for international investment because of its huge domestic market, world-class infrastructure, well developed manufacture sector, still low labor costs and stable social environment etc. Many US companies are enjoying high returns of their investment in China and expanding their presence in China steadily. China is also determined to open more areas to foreign investors, and Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone was established to carry out trials of granting the pre-establishment national treatment to foreign investors. Second, China will become a more important export market for foreign companies, as China continues to enjoy relatively high-speed development and its population becomes richer. According to the estimates made by the Chinese Government, China will import over 10 trillion US dollars of goods in the years between 2013 and 2018. Last but not the least, China will continue to expand its overseas investment and its new ODI (overseas direct investment) is expected to reach 500 billion US dollars between 2013 and 2018, which will benefit many economies in the world including the US.

In conclusion, I wish to encourage all of you to focus more on China in your overseas business plan and I wish you good success.