Highlights of Premier Wen's press conference

China welcomes foreign companies

China will stick unswervingly to its reform and opening-up policy and welcomes foreign companies' investments, Premier Wen Jiabao said.

He said China will increase efforts to attract foreign investments and give high priority to the introduction of advanced foreign technologies and modern management practices.

China also hopes more foreign research and development (R&D) centers will be established in China, so that foreign capital can be utilized more effectively and efficiently, he said.

Wen also promised fair treatment to all lawfully operated foreign companies, stating that China will provide a fair environment to foreign businesses. He added that he will spend more time meeting with foreign businesspeople and will listen to their views to improve the investment environment.

Chinese economy faces uncertainties

China's economy cannot develop without the context of the broader global environment, and the recovery of many Chinese companies is mainly backed by the government's supportive policies, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said.

The economy is complicated by a lot of uncertain factors, although the world is generally recovering, the main problems of the global economy still exist, Wen said.

"The unemployment rate of the world's main economy is still high, some countries' debt crises are still deepening, and the world's commodity prices and exchange rates are not stable, which are most likely to become the cause of any setback in the economic recovery," he said.

"The shock of the global economic crisis on the Chinese economy in some degree imposed on our development model, which cannot be changed in a short time and needs our constant efforts," he said.

"We must put transforming our economic development model and adjusting our economic structure in a very important place to change the unbalanced development of China's economy," Wen said.

Premier Wen a staunch advocate of free trade

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said that he's a staunch supporter of free trade, in response to a question about China's stand towards increasing protectionist measures against China's exports.

Wen said he sincerely hoped that the US and Europe would acknowledge China's market economy status and lift bans on high-tech exports to China.

He said although China had become the largest exporter, 50 percent of its exports were processing trade and 60 percent of China's exports were generated from foreign enterprises or joint ventures. So trade protectionism also had a negative impact on foreign companies, he added.