SEOUL - PRESIDENT Hu Jintao said on Tuesday that China remains committed to bold economic reforms introduced 30 years ago and urged South Korean firms to invest more in his country's modernisation.

Mr Hu, in a speech to business groups on the second day of his visit to South Korea, noted that this year is the 30th anniversary of Deng Xiaoping's reforms which have brought the communist-ruled nation unprecedented prosperity.

'China's development over the past 30 years was thanks to its policy of reform and openness,' Mr Hu said through a translator.

'Its future development should also be based on reform and openness. The Chinese people will persist in their efforts to push through with reform and openness and to speed up the modernisation of socialism.'

Mr Hu cautioned that China 'still has to go a long way to achieve modernisation and common prosperity benefiting all its people' but added that it is inextricably bound to the rest of the world.

'At a time when globalisation is deepening and scientific and technological innovation are speeding up, the connection between the future of China and that of the rest of the world is becoming ever stronger.'

China would 'continue following the path of peace and development, carrying out its policy of openness aimed at mutual prosperity, and pursuing peace and cooperation.'

Mr Hu said his talks with South Korean leaders focused on 'exploring a new phase' in relations established in 1992.

Since then, bilateral trade had increased 32 times to hit 160 billion dollars in 2007. Accumulated two-way investment stood at 41 billion dollars last year, up 90 times.

Mr Hu called for greater cooperation and coordination between South Korea and China to meet current challenges.

'Especially, global uncertainties are increasing, the world's financial markets are unstable, oil and food prices are high and raw material prices continue climbing,' he said.

'Global inflationary pressure is building up as the world's economy is slowing down.'

Mr Hu urged South Korean firms to invest in infrastructure and the environment in China's midwest and its northeastern agricultural industry.

He singled out IT, finance, energy, logistics and the environment as the most promising fields of cooperation.

The Chinese leader and President Lee Myung Bak, at a summit on Monday, agreed on a variety of measures to strengthen relations between countries which were ideological adversaries during the Cold War.

They called for regular dialogue between top diplomats and defence officials, and reconfirmed their commitment to persuade North Korea to scrap its nuclear weapons through six-nation negotiations.

Mr Hu and Mr Lee also agreed to increase their annual trade volume to 200 billion dollars by 2010, China since 2003 has hosted the nuclear negotiations which also involve the two Koreas, the United States, Russia and Japan.

Under an aid-for-disarmament deal reached last year, the North is disabling its atomic complex and has handed over details of its plutonium-based nuclear programme.

But it cannot agree with the United States on ways to verify the declaration.

On Tuesday morning, Mr Lee showed Mr Hu around Seoul Forest, a 286 acre (114 hectare) riverside park he developed when he was Seoul mayor.

They exchanged views on environmentally friendly urban development, the use of clean energy and green growth, and planted a commemorative pine.

Mr Hu also held talks with Prime Minister Han Seung Soo before his lunch speech. He departed early afternoon for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Tajikistan. -- AFP