This photo taken on Dec 2, 2023 shows the opening ceremony of the 2023 Understanding China Conference (Guangzhou) in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province.[Photo/Xinhua]

President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter on Saturday to the 2023 Understanding China Conference (Guangzhou), which was held in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, over the weekend.

Li Shulei, head of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, read out the congratulatory letter at the event's opening ceremony on Saturday.

"Today, confronted with a weak global economic recovery and escalating geopolitical conflicts, humanity has once again come to a crossroads in history. It is all the more important that countries work together to meet various global challenges, promote common development and improve the well-being of humanity," Xi said in the letter.

"To understand China, the key lies in understanding Chinese modernization. China is advancing the noble cause of building a great country and national rejuvenation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization, and promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind," he said. "China's future is closely linked with the future of the entire humanity."

Xi said that China is pursuing high-quality development through high-standard opening-up, and the country will continue to foster a market-oriented, world-class business environment underpinned by a sound legal framework, and steadily expand institutional opening-up with regard to rules, regulations, management and standards.

China is committed to broadening the convergence of interests with other countries, and will continue to provide the world with new growth momentum and opportunities through its own development, Xi said.

"China looks forward to working hand in hand with the rest of the world to realize global modernization that features peaceful development, mutually beneficial cooperation and prosperity for all," he said.

Xi expressed his hope that participants to the conference will make their contributions to the exchanges and cooperation between China and the world, to common development and prosperity, and to building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Huang Kunming, secretary of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee and a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, addressed the conference's opening ceremony.

The conference was co-hosted by the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy, the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs and the Guangdong provincial government.

More than 600 participants, including officials, experts, entrepreneurs and diplomats, from over 30 countries and regions attended the event, which ended on Sunday.

Message lauded

The participants said that Xi's congratulatory letter scientifically analyzed the general trend of the world today, and China has acted as a responsible major country and made significant contributions to resolving common problems and improving the well-being of humanity.

They called on all countries to expand their convergence of interests and lay a solid foundation for the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind.

The participants highly praised the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and called on countries involved in the BRI to strengthen cooperation, in order to deal with global crises and common issues.

They also discussed and exchanged views on various important issues, including the Chinese path to modernization, China's high-quality development and high-level opening-up, as well as the construction of a world-class Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Mulatu Teshome, former president of Ethiopia, said the joint building of the BRI has now become an international practice, going from concept to action and from vision to reality in the past decade. The joint building of the BRI has brought tangible benefits to relevant countries, including Ethiopia, he said in his keynote speech.

In Africa, the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway and the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway have successively begun operation, becoming important channels to promote the development of East Africa and the whole continent, Teshome said.

The joint building of the BRI has also brought remarkable and profound changes to the world over the past decade, and has become a landmark event in the history of human social development, he added.

Wolfgang Schussel, former chancellor of Austria, said that faced with global changes and challenges, no country and region can stand alone. "We all live on the same planet and are interconnected, and must seek cooperation from neighbors and partners."

The trade volumes between China and the United States, China and Europe, and the US and Europe are on the rise, Schussel said, adding that all countries must cooperate with one another, as globalization is the key to getting out of poverty and moving toward prosperity, and no one can stay out of it.

Zheng Bijian, founding chairman of the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy, said the conference has been committed to promoting the understanding of China, the world and the unprecedented global changes from the beginning.

"If the conference can help the world understand China and the Communist Party of China more effectively, and at the same time, help China understand the world and its unprecedented changes more effectively, then the 'understanding deficit' will be mitigated through the conference after enduring efforts," Zheng said. "And it will be a blessing for China and the entire world when it is achieved."

The conference, which was first held in 2013, has become an important international platform for exchanges between China and the rest of the world.

Themed "China's New Endeavors Amid Unprecedented Global Changes — Expanding the Convergence of Interests and Building a Community of Shared Future", this year's event included parallel seminars, thematic conferences, luncheon speeches and closed-door seminars.

Xinhua contributed to this story.