Yesterday saw Premier Wen Jiabao addressing the World Economic Forum's 4th summer Davos in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin. Xinhua picked out one of the key themes of Wen's speech as encouraging scientific innovation in China- a policy that is aimed at shifting away from a 'made in China' economic ethos towards a 'created in China' mentality. According to the Premier, this will be realised by approaches including promoting an open and fair investment environment in China for foreign companies, and developing the education system to ensure a flow of creative talent into the workplace.
Wen's statements follow similar lines to those of Vice-President Xi Jinping's made at the Second World Investment Forum of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD held in Xiamen Special Economic Zone. Xi was keen to emphasise the impact and benefit of the foreign investment that has come into the PRC since Deng Xiaoping's reforms, and also stressed the need to create a beneficial environment for further outside businesses to come into China. Wen Jiabao's comments similarly echo those made by Hu Jintao in a speech on education in July, when he outlined a programme of increased investment in education in the future, with China's private sector being invited to become involved.
