The Special Promotion Conference on “Story of the CPC—Guangdong’s Practice of the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” was held in Shenzhen, Guangdong on May 27th. With the theme “Reform and opening-up holds the key to the destiny of contemporary China”, the promotion conference aims to, through the important platform of the Special Session of the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting, brief visiting representatives of foreign political parties on Guangdong’s practice and experience of achieving new development through reform and opening up under the guidance of the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.

Li Xi, Secretary of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee, expressed in this speech that, Guangdong Province is the birthplace of China’s reform and opening up, and the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone is one of its landmark achievements. The first stop for General Secretary Xi Jinping’s local investigation after the 18th CPC National Congress was Guangdong, where he emphasized that China should unswervingly follow reform and opening up, the path to a stronger China, and that China must not stop, even for a minute, in the pursuit of reform and opening-up. Looking back at 40 years of vicissitudes, and historic changes in more than five years since the 18th CPC National Congress, Guangdong has been able to make great strides in catching up with the times and staying ahead of the curve. The achievements are attributed to the strong leadership of the CPC, to socialism with Chinese characteristics as fundamental direction, to the key move of reform and opening up and to the distinctive feature that integrates the CPC’s theoretical innovations with the people’s practical innovations and keeps up with the times.

Li said that at present, Guangdong’s development has reached a new and higher starting point. Guangdong will take the opportunity of celebrating the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up to seize the major opportunity of the construction of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, faithfully implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, focus on the four aspects in leading the way in the country, and highlight institutional innovation and creation of patterns and systems. Guangdong will continue to make good use of the key move of reform and opening up, prevail over whatever challenges that may lie ahead, and strive to promote implementation and fruitful results of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era in Guangdong.

Song Tao, Minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee (IDCPC), expressed in his speech that, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that reform and opening up holds the key to the destiny of contemporary China, and to the realization of the two centenary goals and the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation. Over the past 40 years, Shenzhen has transformed from a small fishing village to an international metropolis and undergone enormous changes, becoming a successful epitome of the historical process of China’s reform and opening up. Practice has proved that reform and opening up is the only way to promote China’s development, a powerful driving force for promoting win-win cooperation among all countries, an effective way to improve the global governance system, and the source of vitality to stimulate ideological and theoretical innovations. The CPC is willing to share opportunities and seek common development with political parties of various countries, strengthen exchanges of experience in state governance and administration, and build the “Belt and Road” into a route of reform, opening up, and win-win cooperation in the new era, in a bid to actively build a community with a shared future for mankind and a better world.

Nguyen Xuan Thang, Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and Director of the Ho Chi Minh City National Academy of Politics, and Sergey Zheleznyak, Deputy Secretary of the General Council of the United Russia Party, delivered speeches respectively. They noted that China has scored remarkable achievements in the past 40 years through reform and opening up, benefiting not only the Chinese people, but also the world. The CPC’s experience in sticking to exploring the development path suitable to its own national conditions and leading the Chinese people to get rich is worthy of learning by the international community. It is hoped that the political parties in various countries will strengthen exchanges and cooperation, give play to the political leading role of party exchanges, and promote integration of development strategies and practical cooperation in various fields, so as to achieve common development and prosperity.

The promotion conference also invited frontline witnesses of the reform and opening up to tell the Guangdong story of comprehensively deepening reform. They fully demonstrated how Guangdong keeps General Secretary Xi Jinping’s exhortation firmly in mind to hold high the banner of reform and make continuous innovation and progress as a pioneer in the new era from the following four aspects: “completing a great cause must rely on Party leadership”, “development is the top priority”, “talent is the primary resource” and “innovation is the primary driver.”

The special promotion conference is sponsored the IDCPC and the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee, and organized by the CPC Shenzhen Municipal Committee. More than 500 representatives of over 200 political parties from over 100 countries attended the conference. The promotion conference, held in a city outside Beijing for the first time, is not only an important part of the Special Session of the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting, but also the updated version of the Special Promotion Conference of “Story of the CPC—Practice of Local CPC Committees”.

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