BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday called for greater confidence and perseverance from science and technology (S&T) practitioners to make China the vanguard of innovation-driven development.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks on a visit to an exhibition in Beijing on S&T achievements during the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015).

The president lauded China's achievements and the influence they had on the reform and opening up drive, and socialist modernization.

The exhibition was held one day after the conclusion of the 9th National Congress of China Association for Science and Technology.

More than 800 items were on display in 10 exhibition areas, showing the best of China's major S&T achievements in the last five years.

The items included intelligent driving, deep-sea diving, robot surgeons, Tianhe-2 supercomputer, and Beidou navigation system.

Other senior leaders including Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan and Wang Qishan, also visited the exhibition.