Visitors attend the "Beautiful China, Beautiful Switzerland" exhibition. [Photo/Xinhua]

Editor's note: Jiang Jianguo, minister of the State Council Information Office of the People's Republic China, delivered a speech at Chinese-Swiss Media Symposium in Geneva, on Tuesday. Below is the full text:

Distinguished friends from the Chinese and Swiss media,

Good morning! It is a great pleasure to come to scenic and picturesque Switzerland. All of our Swiss media friends present have long closely observed and covered China and made important contributions to enhancing the friendship between the Chinese and Swiss people. Here, I would like to extend to you all great respect and sincere gratitude on behalf of the State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China.

As all of you know, Chinese President Xi Jinping is about to pay a visit to Switzerland. The visit will be the first to Switzerland by a Chinese head of state for 17 years and it will serve as the starting point for China's diplomacy in 2017. President Xi will not only pay a state visit to Switzerland, he will also attend the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, visit the UN headquarters in Geneva and the headquarters of the World Health Organization and the International Olympic Committee. During the visit, President Xi will elaborate on China's new concepts, new policies and new measures on ties with Switzerland during the new period, explicitly present China's policy proposals and important advocacies on improving global economic governance and pushing forward economic globalization to enhance international consensuses, and push for the building of a community of shared destiny for all humankind. It is the media's role to focus on important international events and disseminate influential news. I hope you will all put your focus on President Xi's visit to satisfy to the utmost extent people's desire for information about the visit, not only in Switzerland but also in Europe and around the world.

Dear friends, the World Economic Forum has long been known as the "world's economic wind vane" and since China's economic development is a wind that blows others along with it, there is a great interest in how strongly it is blowing every year at the forum. Here, I would like to take this opportunity to brief you about China's economic situation and share with you some of my views: