Chinese vice premier meets with ADB president

BEIJING, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang met with Masatsugu Asakawa, president of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), in Beijing on Monday.

Ding, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said the Chinese economy remains an important global economic growth engine, noting that it has overcome multiple difficulties and challenges, and China's economic recovery has been consolidated and strengthened.

China will strive to promote high-quality development, expand opening-up at a high level, actively promote economic globalization, and create new opportunities for all with its new development, Ding said.

Ding commended the long-term and sound cooperative relationship between China and the ADB, and said that China welcomes the ADB's continued participation in the country's reform and opening-up process. The two sides should deepen practical cooperation in such areas as environmental protection, green and low-carbon development, elderly care and medical care, he added.

Masatsugu Asakawa said the ADB looks forward to building a closer cooperative partnership with China, and that it is willing to continue supporting the country's high-quality development. It is also prepared to continue actively encouraging countries in the Asia-Pacific region to share in China's successful development experience, he noted.