Chinese President Xi Jinping (3rd L) talks with workers at Waigaoqiao comprehensive service hall of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) during his inspection in Shanghai, east China, May 23, 2014. Xi Jinping made an inspection tour to Shanghai from Friday to Saturday. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged Shanghai to push forward reform, pursue scientific development and improve its competitiveness.

Xi made the remarks during his inspection in Shanghai from Friday to Saturday after attending the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia.

He visited the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ), saying the decision to build the zone was an important step of China's reform and opening up in modern times.

He was told on Friday afternoon that more than 16,000 enterprises with 280,000 employees have entered the zone in the past eight months, which have seen transparency of investment management, convenience of trading, financial innovation and reform of governmental administration.

The president stressed that the FTZ in Shanghai is a large pilot that needs careful management. The management should combine structural reform and the exploration of new methods, while controlling risks and gradually making improvements.

Institutional innovation should be focused on to create a fair and efficient international business environment, the president said.

Risk control is the bottom line to guarantee the whole process of constructing the zone, and the demands of various businesses for institutional improvement should be emphasized, he said.

The president also visited a cultural trade base in the zone and called on the staff to contribute more to the development and promotion of the country's cultural industries.