A meeting celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was held on the morning of December 18 in Beijing. General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Hu Jintao delivered a keynote speech at the meeting.

In his speech, Hu stressed the significance of the historical meeting held in 1978, reviewed the achievements of the past three decades, summarized experiences and set out future goals.

Hu said that facts have proven that the direction, theories and policies of building a socialist country with Chinese characteristics under the leadership of the CPC are completely correct. The Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee has had significant and far-reaching impacts, which have been and will continue to be manifested in the vigorous development of the CPC and the country.

He called on people to fully recognize the significance and great achievements of the reforms, continue building a socialist society with Chinese characteristics in a scientific way and press ahead with reform and opening up.

Hu praised the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping and other old-generation Party and government leaders for supporting the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, which shifted the focus of the Party and the country to economic construction and adopted the reform and opening-up policy.

Hu pointed out that the historical meeting demonstrated the Party's determination to blaze a new socialist path corresponding with the trend of the time and the people's will. The meeting rejuvenated the nation like a spring breeze.

He said that in the past three decades, the second generation of CPC leadership with Deng Xiaoping at the core, the third generation of CPC leadership with Jiang Zemin at the core and the current CPC leadership born at the 16th CPC National Congress have led the CPC and the people in pushing forward reform and opening up. The CPC has successfully opened a new path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, he added.

Hu summarized China's achievements in the past three decades as follows.

--We have actively pushed ahead various institutional reforms, and have successfully transformed China from a highly centralized planned economy into a dynamic socialist market economy. As economic reform deepens continuously, reform in the political, cultural and social systems, as well as other areas, has also been carried further forward.

--China has opened increasingly wider to the outside world, evolving from a completely closed society, to a semi-closed and then to an all-round open society. From 1978 to 2007, China's total value of imports and exports jumped to third place in the world, and the size of the nation's foreign reserve leaped to the first place in the world. China's investment overseas has also increased remarkably. Broad and deep international cooperation has speeded up China's economic development, and China also has contributed significantly to global economic growth.

--We have kept our focus on economic construction, and our comprehensive national strength has been improved to a new level. From 1978 to 2007, China's gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual average rate of 9.8 percent, and now China is the fourth largest economy in the world in terms of GDP.

--We have raised people's living standards and people in general enjoy a well-off life. From 1978 to 2007, the per capita income of rural residents soared by 6.5 times; and the rural population in poverty declined from 250 million to about 14 million. The per-capita living area of both the urban and rural residents has multiplied.