New institutions facilitate high-level opening-up
China DailyLujiazui, the financial center in Shanghai, forms a perfect backdrop to the Bund area. With this year marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and being a critical year for fulfilling the goals set out in the 14th Five-Year Plan, Chinese policymakers are making greater efforts to foster a new development pattern, advance high-quality development and further deepen reform and opening-up. China's foreign trade faces pressure due to the restructuring of the global value chains, making the country's efforts to liberalize trade and facilitate investment increasingly important amid the growing trend of trade protectionism and "de-coupling" and "severing of industry and supply chains" in some economies. Stressing that the ultimate goal of promoting reforms and pursuing high-quality development is to meet people's need for a better life, the top leader said that reform measures must take into consideration the overall, fundamental and long-term interests of the people, including creating more new jobs, increasing people's incomes, improving the education, healthcare and housing sectors, and upgrading childcare and eldercare services. While China's efforts to expand opening-up and free trade have yielded positive results, the Belt and Road Initiative has three-quarters of the world's countries as partner economies, which has significantly boosted global trade and investment.