Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli on Friday met four foreign leaders who will attend the opening ceremony of the Eco-Forum Global Annual Conference in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province.

During the meeting with Swiss President Ueli Maurer, Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, Tongan Prime Minister Siale'ataonga Tu'ivakano and Thai Deputy Prime Minister Nivatthamrong Boonsongpaisal, Zhang said the Chinese government attaches great importance to the environment.

China incorporates the concept of ecological civilization into economic, political, cultural and social development, said the vice-premier.

He added that China hopes to use the forum to popularize the concept of ecological civilization, promote international cooperation, jointly work to fight climate change and push forward global sustainable development.

Dai Bingguo, former State councilor of China, said the nation should provide assistance to other developing countries in fighting threats from ecological crises while learning from other successful countries.

Ecological restoration efforts in China will improve rapidly in the coming years, Dai said at a news conference on Friday in Guiyang, ahead of the opening ceremony of the Eco-Forum Global Annual Conference on Saturday.

The Chinese government considers environmental protection a high priority, he said.

While it learns how to cope with ecological degradation from developed countries, China will come up with its own environmental protection methods, he said.

Dai said it is necessary for China to further decrease its consumption of energy and increase energy efficiency.

He said energy conservation should be further promoted to take full advantage of energy resources.

Dai said ancient Chinese culture has always attached special significance to nature and sustainable development.

But the responsibility of protecting the environment does not only fall on the Chinese government, he said.

"It's significant that every citizen cultivate awareness and undertake the obligation of resources conservation and environment protection, especially young people," he said.

Many developed countries have achieved economic growth at the cost of the environment and natural resources, he said, adding that countries only venture to clean up the environment after it becomes wealthy. He said China should try its best to learn from these lessons and avoid detours.

"We need to draw from the historical lessons and end development that sacrifices the environment and excessively consumes resources," he said. "An economy that harms natural resources will only deter progress in the long term and the key is to reach a balance between nature and economic development.

"As the economy rapidly develops, it's time we work on boosting our ecological environment of our habitat with all our efforts."