Pledges on free trade restated to UN chief

China's resolution to comprehensively deepen reforms will not waver, and all concerned parties will be encouraged to jointly maintain trade liberalization and facilitation to build an open world economy, President Xi Jinping said on Sunday.

Xi made the remark when meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres ahead of the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation starting on Monday.

The world needs multilateralism now more than ever, and a more powerful UN will help counter the rising trends of unilateralism and protectionism while helping stabilize global order, Xi said.