GUANGZHOU — Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Thursday that China’s development is propelled by opening-up and reform, and the country will share its development opportunities with the world to achieve better development.

Li made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the 130th China Import and Export Fair, or Canton Fair, in Guangzhou.

Peruvian President Pedro Castillo, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Cote d'Ivoire Prime Minister Patrick Achi and Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development Rebeca Grynspan attended the ceremony via video link.

Founded in 1957, the Canton Fair is seen as a significant barometer of China’s foreign trade. During the 130th session, around 7,800 companies will participate in the fair offline, while around 26,000 companies from home and abroad will participate online.

Over the past 65 years, the Canton Fair has been through some ups and downs but has never stopped, which is a remarkable achievement, Li said. He noted the history of the Canton Fair is a history of China’s opening-up and integration into the world economy, and also a history of enterprises from all over the world sharing China’s development opportunities and achieving mutual benefit and win-win results.

In the face of the resurgence of COVID-19 and the profound changes in international situations, countries around the globe must exhibit the courage to tackle obstacles, as well as tolerance and inclusiveness, determination in opening-up and sincerity in cooperation, Li said. The Chinese premier called on all parties to work together on COVID-19 response, uphold opening-up and cooperation to facilitate economic recovery, and uphold inclusiveness to promote common development.

Faced with a complex and stern international environment, as well as multiple shocks from the pandemic and severe flooding this year, China has risen to the challenges and difficulties while maintaining regular COVID-19 response, Li said.

The Chinese economy has sustained a steady recovery. China will keep the economy running in an appropriate range, and promote the stable and long-term development of the Chinese economy, he said.