Beijing, July 1 (IANS) China’s global status as the largest developing country in the world has not changed and development is still the key to solving all the problems in the country, Chinese President Hu Jintao said Friday.

The country’s basic condition has not changed, said Hu at a gathering to mark the 90th anniversary of the Communist Party of China.

China is still in the primary stage of socialism and will remain so for a long time to come, and the principal issue in society remains how to meet the ever-growing material and cultural needs of the people while upgrading backward social production, Xinhua quoted Hu as saying.

Hu said that pursuing economic development as the central task is essential for reinvigorating China and achieving prosperity and enduring political stability of the Party and the country.

‘In the time to come, we must continue to follow the strategic thinking that only development counts and firmly carry out the central task of economic development, and we should not waiver in the slightest in this pursuit,’ he added.