The 7th Hongqiao International Economic Forum is ongoing in Shanghai from Nov 5 to 10, alongside the 7th China International Import Expo. [Photo/VCG]

Amid an increasingly complex and challenging international landscape, China continues to make significant progress in deepening reform and expanding high-level opening-up, playing a pivotal role in driving global economic growth, said economists and business leaders attending the ongoing seventh China International Import Expo in Shanghai.

China's commitment to high-level opening-up will generate new growth opportunities for global stakeholders, they added.

Their comments came after the publication of the World Openness Report 2024 on Tuesday at a session of the Hongqiao International Economic Forum, which is held as a part of the CIIE. It was jointly released by the Institute of World Economics and Politics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Research Center for Hongqiao International Economic Forum.

According to the report, China's openness index rose to 0.7596 in 2023, up from 0.6789 in 2008. Also, the nation ranked 38th in terms of openness among 129 economies in 2023, one place up compared with 2022.

"Openness is a clear hallmark of China's modernization," said Qu Weixi, director of the Research Center for Hongqiao International Economic Forum. "By enhancing reform and development through openness, China seeks to foster win-win outcomes, both domestically and globally."

Qu noted that China's high-level opening-up has also spurred reforms in global economic governance.

"Through deep participation in global industrial division and by strengthening multilateral, bilateral and regional economic cooperation, China has shared development opportunities with countries worldwide and played an important role in maintaining a diversified and stable international economic framework," he said.

China is a promoter of, participant in and contributor to better global governance, Qu added.

According to the report, in terms of global openness, the index continued to decline in 2023, dropping 0.12 percent year-on-year to 0.7542.

Despite this downward trend in global openness, Zhang Yuyan, an academician of the CASS, said he believes that "economic globalization has not experienced a fundamental reversal" and the "small streams" that promote opening-up are still converging.

The report showed that global value chains have maintained an overall trend of expansion in recent years despite shocks and setbacks, with the share of foreign added value in global exports reaching an all-time high of 24 percent in 2022, up one percentage point from 2021 and 4 percentage points from 2009.

Cecilia Ugaz Estrada, managing director of the Directorate of Strategic Planning, Programming at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, said that digitalization and energy transition are two new driving forces for global economic growth, and China is emerging as one of the leading forces behind sustainable industrial transformation.

Global entrepreneurs hailed China's efforts to deepen reform and expand opening-up, expressing strong optimism about the country's prospects in the long run.

Anu Rathninde, president of Johnson Controls Asia-Pacific, said the United States-based smart building solutions provider has witnessed new growth unleashed through opening-up and modernization since it entered the Chinese market.

A more favorable business environment and the development of new quality productive forces give the company great confidence in China's long-term growth, he said.

"We will further seize the opportunities presented by opening-up and innovation, as well as the spillover effects of the CIIE, to grow alongside the Chinese market and share a smart, green future," he added.

Jason Te Brake, CEO of Zespri, a cooperative of kiwi fruit growers in New Zealand, said that China "is one of our most important markets "and "we want to continue to grow "here in China.