Chinese PremierLi Keqiangdelivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) annual conference in Boao, south China's Hainan Province, March 24, 2016.

　　While calling for closer cooperation among Asian countries, Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday identified China's reform and opening up drive, economic restructuring and investment in people's livelihoods as reliable growth engines.

　　Li made the remarks during his speech at the opening ceremony of the 2016 annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia, in China's southernmost island province of Hainan.

　　Just like a high-speed train that is powered by multiple engines installed in individual carriages as well as the locomotive, China's economy needs stable operation and multiple driving forces, Li said.

　　To achieve stable and long-term growth, China will work to improve its financial market and retool the economy to cultivate new engines, according to the premier.

　　China will reform the capital market and draft rules for debt-to-equity swaps, making it easier for lenders to convert bank loans into equity stakes of debtor companies, a move that would help ease the nation's high debt levels.

　　To further open the capital market to global investors, "the government will launch the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect within the year, when conditions are ripe," said Li.

　　The program, which allows investors to trade on both bourses, within a limit, follows the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect program, which has yielded positive results.

　　China will actively foster new growth drivers while transforming and upgrading traditional ones so that they form "twin engines" that propel development, according to the premier.

　　He called for efforts to promote innovation and entrepreneurship, develop the service industry, high-tech industry, small and medium-enterprises and private businesses. Their development will support the transformation of traditional industries.

　　Effective investment in infrastructure, especially in China's central and western regions, should be expanded, which is conducive to rural development, he said.