"We welcome more and more foreign investment to come to China," Li said to a group of 19 business leaders at the Great Hall of the People including CEOs from Honeywell International Inc, Volkswagen AG, Nokia Oyj and Rio Tinto.

"We will also relax (restrictions on) access to even more fields to create a market-oriented, law-based internationalized business environment."

(Reporting by Ryan Woo; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)