BEIJING, March 25 -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on Monday in Beijing, and called for closer cooperation with the IMF.

Li said China has set a target of around 5 percent GDP growth this year, which is positive news for the global economy. Since the beginning of this year, China's economy has been steadily recovering and turning for the better, achieving a good start and laying a solid foundation for meeting the economic and social development targets of the year, he added.

In the long run, the Chinese economy has advantages in institutions, markets, industries, human resources and innovation, and the fundamentals for long-term sound development have not changed and will not change, Li said.

He added that China has the confidence and ability to maintain the sustained and sound development of its economy and the country will unswervingly pursue high-level opening up and better promote mutual benefit and win-win results with all parties.

Noting that China and the IMF have maintained a sound cooperative relationship, Li said China supports the IMF in continuing to play an important role in global governance, and stands ready to further deepen cooperation with the IMF, continue to improve the global debt governance system, and contribute to world economic recovery.

"We hope that the IMF will continue to play a positive role in upholding economic globalization and free trade, keep global industrial and supply chains stable and unimpeded, and foster an open world economy," he said.

Georgieva thanked China for its strong support to the IMF and said that in the past year, China's economic growth has exceeded expectations and maintained a good momentum of development in fields like green economy, digital economy and artificial intelligence.

The IMF does not approve of politicizing economic issues, and is willing to deepen cooperation with China for the country's economic transformation and upgrading, reform, and opening up, and enhance its representation and voice in the IMF, Georgieva said.