SEOUL - Foreign-funded enterprises are an indispensable force for China's development and China's mega-market will always be open to foreign-funded companies, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Sunday.

Economic and trade cooperation is the ballast of China-Republic of Korea relations, Li said during a meeting with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong on the sidelines of the ninth Trilateral Summit Meeting among China, Japan and the ROK.

Li pointed out that the industrial and supply chains of China and the ROK are deeply intertwined, and a community of shared interests, where everyone's interest is closely interlinked, has been formed.

Li Qiang called on enterprises of China and the ROK to tap deeper into their cooperation potential in new areas, so as to continuously upgrade bilateral economic and trade cooperation and achieve more win-win results

Samsung's cooperation with China is a vivid epitome of the mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation and development between China and the ROK, said Li, adding that with the sustained economic development of the two countries and the continuous rise of emerging industries, the cooperation prospects will broaden.

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He called on enterprises of China and the ROK to tap deeper into their cooperation potential in new areas such as high-end manufacturing, digital economy, artificial intelligence, green development and biomedicine, so as to continuously upgrade bilateral economic and trade cooperation and achieve more win-win results.

The Chinese side will steadily promote institutional opening-up, further expand market access, implement national treatment for foreign-funded enterprises, actively address the concerns and demands of the enterprises, and provide better business environment, so that more foreign-funded companies can rest assured in their investment and development in China, he added.

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Li said China welcomes companies in the ROK, including Samsung, to continue to expand investment and cooperation in China and share more new opportunities in China's new development.

Lee briefed Li on Samsung's investment and cooperation in China, expressed gratitude for the great support of the Chinese government for Samsung's production and operation, noting that Samsung will continue to expand business in China, commit itself to becoming a beloved company among the Chinese people, and make more contributions to the reciprocal cooperation between China and the ROK.