BEIJING - The international community has spoken highly of the keynote report by General Secretary Hu Jintao at the opening of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Thursday, noting that the report defines the direction of China's future development and will exert profound influence on China's growth as well as world peace and development.

Danish parliament speaker Mogens Lykketoft spoke highly of Hu's report in an interview with Xinhua on Thursday. He believed that after the 18th CPC National Congress, China's society will be more open and China will play a more important role on the world arena.

Calos Tavares, a Brazilian expert on China, said the report has set a goal to double China's GDP and average per capita income for both urban and rural residents by 2020 and called for adherence to the development path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and for political reform, among others, which are very important for China to realize sustainable development and raise living standards.

Following the direction defined by the CPC's 18th National Congress, China will grow better and better, said Tavares.

Stefano Manzocchi, an international economics professor at Italy's LUISS Guido Carli University, told Xinhua that the proposal and fulfillment of the new goal in Hu's report to double China's GDP and average per capita income by 2020 on 2010 levels would make enormous contribution to world economic growth.

China's steady economic growth in the future would drive growth in surrounding countries, and thus make important contributions to the world economy, he said.

The UK-based Financial Times said in a report on Thursday that Hu, in a speech at the 18th National Congress of the CPC, set a new economic goal of doubling China's 2010 GDP and average income by 2020. Economists said Hu's target for economic output was attainable as it implied an average growth rate of 7 percent.

The Associated Press reported that Hu said in a speech at the congress that the fight against corruption remains a serious challenge for the CPC.

"To many Chinese, China is at an inflection point. Its old model of heavily state-directed growth that lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty and made China an economic powerhouse is sputtering in the face of rising domestic debt and a weak global economy," it said.