Editor's Note: On Wednesday, Premier Li Keqiang delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2014, also known as the Summer Davos Forum. The following is the full text of Li's speech:

Dear Professor Klaus Schwab, Your Excellencies Heads of State and Government, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends, It gives me great pleasure to meet you here in Tianjin at the eighth Annual Meeting of the New Champions, or the Summer Davos Forum. On behalf of the Chinese government, I wish to extend warm congratulations on the opening of the Forum and a cordial welcome to all of you who have come from afar.

The theme for this year's Forum, namely "Creating Value Through Innovation", is a most relevant one. Innovation is an eternal topic of the human society and an inexhaustible engine driving economic and social development. Innovation is vital to the steady recovery of the world economy. Innovation is also essential to upgrading the Chinese economy and improving its performance. And it is thanks to reform and innovation that the Chinese economy has in recent years maintained steady and sound growth.