Full text of President Xi's address to BRICS Business Forum

Speech by H.E. Xi Jinping

President of the People’s Republic of China

At the Opening Ceremony of 

The BRICS Business Forum

Xiamen, 3 September 2017

Your Excellency President Michel Temer,

Your Excellency President Jacob Zuma,

Representatives of the Business Community, 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Friends,

Good afternoon! It is my great pleasure to have all of you with us in the beautiful city of Xiamen, renowned as the “Egret Island”. The BRICS Summit will be held tomorrow. On behalf of the Chinese government and people and the people of Xiamen, and also in my own name, I warmly welcome all of you to the Business Forum.

Xiamen has been a trading port since ancient times as well as a gateway of China’s opening up and external cooperation. Embracing the vast ocean, the city has hosted visitors from around the world. On a personal note, Xiamen is where I started off when I came to Fujian Province to take up a new post in 1985. Back then, being one of the earliest special economic zones in China, the city was at the forefront of China’s reform and opening up endeavor and was brimming with development opportunities. Three decades later, Xiamen has become well known for its innovation and entrepreneurship, with burgeoning new economic forms and new industries, robust trade and investment and easy access to the world with air, land and sea links. Today, Xiamen is a beautiful garden city with perfect harmony between man and nature. 

There is a popular saying here in southern Fujian, “Dedicate yourself and you will win,” which embodies an enterprising spirit. Xiamen’s success is a good example demonstrating the perseverance of the 1.3 billion-plus Chinese people. In close to 40 years of reform and opening up, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, we Chinese have forged ahead, fearless and determined, and we have successfully embarked on a path of socialism with distinctive Chinese features. We have encountered difficulties and challenges on the way forward. But we have persevered and kept pace with the times. With dedication, courage and ingenuity, we are making great progress in pursuing development in today’s China.