The Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2013, also known as Summer Davos, opened Wednesday in northeast China's port city of Dalian.

This year's forum, themed "Meeting the Innovation Imperative," will feature interactive discussions on issues such as sustainable growth, energy security, trade and investment.

"Reform and innovation provide an inexhaustible driving force for a country's development," said Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in his keynote speech at the opening ceremony.

The premier said that since the beginning of the year, China has been successful in coordinating efforts to seek steady growth, conduct structural readjustment and deepen reform, and this is mainly due to "innovation in macro-management."

Li said China has kept macroeconomic policy stable, with consideration given to both immediate and long-term needs in the face of economic downturn.

China is implementing an innovation-driven development strategy at a faster pace, aggressively promoting technological innovation and integration of science and technology with the economy, and the country is building a social environment friendly to innovation and business start-ups, said Li.

The premier said the Chinese economy, which is at a crucial stage of transformation and upgrading, is "moving forward steadily and its fundamentals are good."

Summer Davos is an annual gathering of business leaders, government officials and scholars from around the world. More than 1,500 delegates from 90 countries and regions will participate in the three-day forum.