The Chinese economy experienced rapid growth in the first half of this year, and China will enhance its level of opening-up to the outside world, China's top legislator Wu Bangguo said on Wednesday.

China has maintained a good momentum of relatively fast growth in the economy. Despite the negative impact of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, the overall pattern and fundamentals of the Chinese economy remain unchanged, said Wu Bangguo, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.

"In the first half of this year, China's Gross Domestic Product grew by 8.2 percent, the fiscal revenue increased by 27.4 percent, and the industrial enterprises realized a 56.3 percent profit growth," the Chinese top legislator said in a speech at a reception hosted by Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Li Bin.

"We are confident that the target of a seven percent economic growth for this year can be achieved," said Wu, who arrived in South Korea on Tuesday for an official visit.

China's import and export volume reached US$376.1 billion in the first half of this year, a 39 percent growth over the same period last year, and 18,800 new foreign-funded enterprises had been approved, Wu said.

He said China would open up further to the outside world by boosting economic cooperation with other countries and attracting more foreign investment.

China would continue to improve the laws and regulations on foreign investment and boost the opening up of the service sector. And continued efforts would be made to innovate the forms of attracting foreign investment and widening the channel for foreign investment, he said.

More reforms would be introduced to the government's administrative system, Wu said, adding that the NPC Standing Committee approved a law on administrative licensing last month, which is expected to simplify approval procedures for foreign investment and improve efficiency.

Wu also pledged to set up mechanisms to handle complaints by joint ventures and make further efforts in protecting intellectual property rights.

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