Party open to working with foreign peers on reform and opening-up

The Communist Party of China is willing to work with political parties from all other countries in the reform and opening-up cause to seek common development in an increasingly interconnected world, a senior official said on Sunday.

Song Tao, head of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks at a briefing in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on how Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era has been practiced in Guangdong in reform and opening-up.

The Party is also willing to work with counterparts across the world in implementing the Belt and Road Initiative, improving global governance, and undertaking theoretical innovation through reform and opening-up, he said.

The briefing, which was attended by members of 200 political parties from 100 countries and regions, also reviewed the past 40 years of reform and opening-up in Guangdong.

Guangdong, the starting point for reform and opening-up, is now China's largest provincial economy, with GDP hitting 9 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) last year. It has recorded annual economic growth averaging 12.6 percent in the past four decades.

As the country's first special economic zone, and now a major technological innovation hub, Shenzhen has seen its GDP soar by 10,000 times in the past 40 years, with research and development spending accounting for 4.13 percent of GDP last year - twice the national average.

The dramatic change in Guangdong proves that the path taken by the CPC is correct, said Nguyen Xuan Thang, a member of the secretariat of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee.

As Vietnam is reviewing its 30 years of reform and opening-up, his party hopes to draw on China's experience, especially in how breakthroughs have been achieved, Nguyen said, adding his party and the CPC will hold a seminar to look at that this year.

Guangdong has made major breakthroughs in key fields in the past five years, such as supply-side reform, innovation-driven development strategies, the building of a pilot free trade zone, reform of the administrative examination and approval system, and business system reform, said Li Xi, the Party secretary of Guangdong.

The building of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area heralds a second stage in the reform and opening-up of Guangdong, he said. The plan for the bay area, which encompasses Hong Kong, Macao and nine cities in Guangdong with a combined GDP of 10.18 trillion yuan last year, will be issued by the central government soon.